


Lost in Minecraft

by ApocolypticBorito42



Category: Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-01-09 22:47:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12285849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApocolypticBorito42/pseuds/ApocolypticBorito42
Summary: When Vanellope finds a new door in GCS, she suddenly finds herself, Ralph, Calhoun and Felix in a massive new world with seemingly no way out. But someone (or something) is bound and determined to make sure that they never make it back to Litwak's.





	1. Vanellope's News

QUARTER ALERT! QUARTER ALERT!

The alarm wailed, warning the inhabitants of a particularly popular 8-bit video game that a new player has arrived, waiting to repair a certain penthouse that is destined for destruction at any moment. 

“Alright everybody! Get to your start positions!” Called the game’s tiny mustachioed leader. “Yes! Thank you, Gene. You heard him, hurry on up now before he sees us!” The citizens of the game hurriedly scurried off screen before the opening cut scene began playing. 

“You ready, Felix?” Asked Gene, looking up at his games’ protagonist. He wasn’t a tall man, roughly around three feet in height, but he is very talented when it comes to restoring or rebuilding. He wore two yellow gloves and steel toed shoes, a blue cap atop his head with two F’s on the front, his usual blue repair shirt and jeans that were held up by his utility belt which held his trusty golden hammer at his side. 

Fix-it Felix looked down at the NPC warmly. “You bet I am.” Gene nodded and turned to face his fellow Nicelanders. He found Don, Mary, Deanna, and Norwood conversing amongst themselves quietly as they awaited their cue to enter. Gene squinted his eyebrows then let out a startled gasp.

“Where’s Ralph?!” 

Felix’s eyes widened as well. He hadn’t even noticed that their bad guy wasn’t present. He didn’t know how he couldn’t have noticed it, he always seems to make his presence known some way or another. “Jiminy! Where is he? Ralph? Quarter Alert!” He whispered loudly through cupped hands over his mouth. The other Nicelanders each had a worried expression on their face as well, heads turning and bobbing, each one trying to find their antagonist.

“Wait up! I’m coming!” Felix turned around and let out a sigh of relief. Running up to them from behind was the bad guy in question. He stood a breathtaking height of nine feet, wore a tired, worn out plaid T-shirt under maroon overalls with a strap hanging loose on his left shoulder. He had rusty red hair that stood up and wore no shoes to cover his gigantic feet. But the one thing everybody noticed about him first were his hands and how enormous they were. He strode up to Felix’s side short of breath.

“Hey guys, sorry . . . About that. . . I, uh, over slept. I didn’t miss it, did I?” 

Before Felix could reply, Gene spoke up. “No, but you almost did! How many times do we have to go through this, Ralph? You’re almost always late and you never seem to-“

“Thank you, Gene! I’ll take it from here,” Felix interrupted before Gene could say any hurtful words to Ralph. 

“No, you didn’t miss it. But it would be much appreciated if you did try to be a little more on time than this. Just so we don’t have to worry. . .” 

Ralph nodded. “Right. Got it. Sorry.” 

The sound of a quarter sliding down the slot and landing with a plink reached their ears and the choppy theme began to play. A boy appeared on the other side of the screen and his eyes were set on the stump that was lying right in the center of the screen. Felix smiled at his friend. “Go get ‘em brother.” Ralph took in a few deep breaths, bounced on the balls of his feet and swung his arms at his sides, rolling his head side to side as he did. Once he finished doing his exercise, he began walking over to the stump, listening to the game’s 8-bit tune as he went.

As he walked, he could finally get a good look at the player. He had a face riddled with freckles and brown hair that reached down to brush the top of his rectangular glasses. Ralph reached the stump, stepped one foot in, then the other, let out a loud yawn and sleepily slid down into it, just as he always did. The gamers couldn’t see it, but there was a large pocket under the stump big enough for him to rest in until his cue to come out approached.

But as he lowered his large, bulking body into the stump, he noticed that it felt a little more stuffy than usual in there. He squirmed and wiggled and grunted He let out a frightened gasp once he felt the lump against his side begin to move. He looked down and could hear the lump moan and groan, trying to position itself away from Ralph’s side. His heart plummeted once he saw what the lump was.

The lump successfully squeezed itself between Ralph and the wall and was now sitting in his lap breathlessly. It was wearing a bright green hoodie and had raven black hair that was decorated with tiny pieces of candy and tied in a ponytail by what appeared to be a licorice whip. It also had a skirt that looks like it was made to resemble a candy wrapper. It also had leggings with a green swirling pattern on each leg. It looked up at him with its large, adorable hazel eyes and spoke. 

“Oof, you really put the ‘stink’ in Stinkbrain, doncha?” Ralph’s jaw dropped.

“Vanellope?! Oof!” On cue, the bulldozer chugged up next to the stump and began pushing it off to the side and to the junkyard. Ralph looked back down to the girl.

“What in the name of malware are you doing here?! You can’t be here during arcade hours!”

She waved off his concern and rolled her eyes. “You worry too much. I can handle myself you know.” Ralph closed his eyes and shook his head. 

“I know! But,” before he could finish, they both felt the stump stop moving and the sound of the bulldozer began to fade away. He looked back down to his friend and held up his finger.

“Hold on, stay here.” Ralph rose to a standing position and poked his upper body above the stump and said his line. “HEY, YOU MOVED MY STUMP! AAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHHH!”

Vanellope couldn’t help but giggle at her friends’ overacting as he flailed his arms up and down. Even the player let out a little chuckle. Then the large construction vehicles drove in from the sides and began building the penthouse. Ralph made sure that the gamer wasn’t paying any attention to him as he lifted himself out of the stump. Then he leaned down, reached in and scooped Vanellope in his hand and lifted her out of the stump as well. 

Her eyes went wide with wonder as she watched the multi-story apartment being built virtually out of nothing inside the large, pixelated puffs of smoke the construction vehicles were making. Once the puffs of smoke faded away, they revealed a very tall building with four windows along each section. Once the vehicles backed up and were out of screen, the Nicelanders hopped joyfully through the double doors and ran up the stairs to get to their respected levels in time.

Vanellope let out a short shriek as Ralph quickly set her down on the edge of the stump. “Stay here and don’t move until the game is over, understand?” He said sternly with a finger pointed at her. 

She saluted him in return. “Got it.”

He turned his back to her and trudged over to the side of the apartment. Once he was in position, he raised his fists in the air and said his famous line. “I’M GONNA WRECK IT!” Ralph turned to face the building and began climbing, smashing and punching and breaking every window or brick he saw.

He shimmied over to the far side, punched a large hole in it and grabbed the unlucky Nicelander in his massive grip. Without hesitation, Ralph reeled his hand back and threw the tiny being forward. The NPC shouted in fear as he was hurtled over toward the junkyard. Vanellope’s eyes widened and ran behind the stump before the man fell right beside it. He picked himself up and dusted off his tuxedo. “Ugh, I hate my job.” And with that, he turned his back to the stump and began walking back to the building off screen so the player wouldn’t notice . . . just like he always did. 

Vanellope let out her breath in relief that the small man didn’t see her. Her attention was then redirected over to her best friend, who was now at the top of the penthouse, pumping both fists in the air and an angry expression on his face. Below him, four Nicelander citizens peeked their heads out of smashed windows and all shouted in unison, “FIX IT FELIX!”

On cue, the lovable repair man scuttled up next to the building, grabbed his hammer which seemed to appear out of thin air right above him and said his signature line. “I CAN FIX IT!” 

Vanellope turned her head to look at the player who was now gripping the joystick and moving it left and right. Felix, mirroring the controller’s commands, jumped up to the nearest windowsill and hopped over to the first broken window. The player gave the ‘fix’ button a tap, causing Felix to hit the window with his hammer. But rather than breaking it even more, there was a happy bling and the window’s image began to flicker before it stopped, revealing a newly restored window. Ralph squeezed his fists together and beat the roof mercilessly, causing a shower of bricks to fall directly over Felix.

The player evaded the bricks with ease and repaired the next window with a similar bling. And for a while, it was the same thing over and over again: jump, fix, dodge. Jump, fix, dodge. Vanellope’s eyes began to droop in boredom until she heard a cheery “Yoohoo!” Her eyes shot open and looked back up to the building. She saw a female Nicelander open a window and place a smoking hot pie out on the sill. The player instantly led Felix over to the pie. He reached down, lifted it up and shoved the entire pie in his mouth. His body began to vibrate violently. Vanellope watched in awe as Felix instantly turned into a swirling fixing frenzy. 

In what seemed like a heartbeat, he went from broken window to broken window. And each time he passed one, it seemed to fix itself without him even touching it. Felix then came to an abrupt halt and stood proudly on a sill, looking down at the fully repaired building. Text appeared in front of the penthouse reading ‘you’ve fixed it!’ Pixelated fireworks exploded behind the penthouse in celebration.

In an instant, Felix somehow teleported up to the roof right next to Ralph, who was now wearing a disappointed frown with his hands at his sides. The occupants of the building swarmed out of the door in a single file line, ran past Felix and stood at his left side, except for one Nicelander woman who remained at his right side. A medal with a blue ribbon around it materialized out of thin air and lowered itself down and hung itself around Felix’s neck and the woman on his right leapt up and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.

Then, all eyes turned to Ralph, and they looked angry. Vanellope leaned forward to get a better look. The tiny people charged forward, scooped Ralph up and carried him to the edge of the building. Once there, they tossed him over the side and he fell head over heels down the building until he landed in the mud with a squishy sounding splat. Text appeared over his body which read ‘Level 1 Complete’. The player pumped his fist in the air in triumph.

After that, more and more stages followed, each consisting of the same thing: Ralph breaks, Felix fixes. Ralph destroys, Felix repairs. Ralph demolishes, Felix renews. Felix jumped and scuttled along the windows, fixing each one in an instant. And each time he finished, it resulted with an angry mob of tiny people throwing Ralph off of the roof. 

The cycle continued until, finally, a certain brick that the player couldn’t avoid. The brick hit him in the head and he did a full three sixty degree spin and fell on his back, hands folded over his chest with a flower between his fingers and funeral music sounded. Ralph flailed his arms in the air in triumph as the screen flashed the text ‘Game Over’.

The player mumbled under his breath and walked away. Felix opened one eye and looked at the screen. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he jumped back onto his feet with a joyful boing and dusted himself off. He looked up at Ralph with a smile on his face and waved. “Well done, brother. Now, let’s get down and . . . Ralph?” 

Ralph wasn’t listening. He had his fists clenched and he appeared to be breathing heavily while looking over to the junkyard pile of bricks. “You alright there, Friend?” 

Ralph walked over to the edge of the roof and started to climb down. Felix could hear the wrecker grumbling something under his breath as he continued his descent. As he passed Felix’s current level, he didn’t even spare him a glance. “Uh, Ralph?”

He continued climbing down. “Hold on, Felix.” Once he had about seven stories left to go, he decided he didn’t want to climb anymore and just let go. He landed on the ground with a hard thud which shook Felix to his core. He looked down and saw Ralph now making a beeline towards his stump which resided at the base of the massive brick pile.

“Ralph! Wait up!” Felix leapt down from window to window until he was on the ground once again and ran for Ralph, wondering how he could help whatever it was that was eating him up inside.

Ralph thundered up to his stump with an anxious Vanellope sitting on it. “Wow, Ralphie! You were great! That player could barely keep up with your mad breaking skills! Oh, Ralph, you’ve outdone yourself-“

“Save it! Just tell me, what exactly possessed you to game jump while the arcade is open?” 

She stopped. “Oh, that. Well, I just thought that-. “

”Thought what? What could you possibly be thinking?”

She narrowed her large eyes at him. “Well, if you can just cool down your hot tamale’s and let me finish I’d be glad to tell you!”

“Ralph! Hey Ralph!” The two stopped their arguing and Ralph turned around to see Felix quickly making his way up to them, chest heaving heavily as he came. “Ralph . . . Ralph, I uh, wanted to . . . to talk to you. You seemed upset back there and I wanted to,” His eyebrows knitted as he leaned to his side and saw Vanellope standing on Ralph’s stump, looking at him confusedly. “V-Vanellope?! What, what are you doing here little lady?” He asked, trying to keep his kind attitude. 

She snorted. “Well, I was going to tell Ralph something cool, apparently his overalls are in a bunch and he feels like being a big fat jerk!”

“I’m only trying to-”

”That’s quite enough. Ralph, could you, uh, give us a moment please?” Ralph’s gaze switched from Felix to Vanellope then back to Felix. Then he threw his hands in the air, turned his back to the two of them and trudged away. Felix let out a discouraged sigh, took off his hat and looked at Vanellope with wide eyes.

“Why does he have to be so mean to me?” She asked with crossed arms. “I take the day off of the roster and come all the way over here to tell him something really cool, and for what? To get yelled at by captain grump over here? Well, if he thinks that I’m going to put up with it, he can kiss my big, fat presidential-”

”Ok! Ok,” Felix interrupted. He sighed. “Look, I know Ralph can be a little, uh, let’s see, how do I put this?” 

“How he can be a big headed, overbearing, stuck up jerk?” 

Felix fiddled with his fingers. “Yeah.” Vanellope grunted.

“Listen, I know how he can be, but you have to understand that he’s just acting the way he is now because, well, he cares about you.” 

“Really? Cuz it doesn’t really look that way right now.” 

“He’d be devastated if anything were to happen to you. You’re his whole world, Vanellope. If you were to get hurt or, Litwak forbid, somehow,” he gulped, “deleted, he would never forgive himself. He cares about you that much. He’s only looking out for you and he wants what’s best for you. You know that, don’t you?” 

She sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

Felix smiled warmly and held out his hand. She smiled shyly in return, grabbed his hand and he helped her off of the stump. “Now wait right here.” He patted her head and walked back over to Ralph, who had his back turned to them rocking on his feet and arms crossed, silently grumbling to himself. Felix came up to his side and patted his arm. The wrecker looked down. “Go talk to her. And, take it easy. You know she means well.” 

He sighed. “I know. I know.” Felix gave him one last pat on the arm and walked back to the penthouse.

Ralph turned around and saw Vanellope still standing by the stump. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together, sighing loudly. He walked over to her and knelt down, resting his elbow on his knee. He placed his hand on his temples and slowly lowered down his face. “Look, kid, I’m sorry I snapped at you. I just, don’t know what I would do with myself if something were to ever-”

”I know, Felix told me all about that.” 

He sighed again. “But I still want you to know that game jumping while the arcade is open is very dangerous. You could be seen outside your game. And I don’t know if you know this, but if that were to happen, it wouldn’t be good.” 

Vanellope sighed too. “I know.”

Ralph nodded. “But, you’re here, you’re not hurt, and also came with news.” He chuckled a little. “And you went through all this trouble to say it. So . . . What’s up?” 

Her face immediately lit up. “Well, did you see Litwak walking around with that plug in looking thing?” 

Ralph scratched his chin and had a quizzical look on his face. Then he snapped his fingers. “Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes I do.” 

Vanellope nodded. “Well, he plugged that into Sugar Rush! We got an upgrade!” 

Ralph’s eyes bugged out. “W-Wow, Vanellope that’s great! What’s changed?” 

“Nothing too major,” she said while pacing back from side to side. “Each and every one of our karts have their own special abilities!” 

“That is good news, kid. What can your kart do now?” She stomped both of her feet up and down and squealed excitedly.

“You’ll have to come and see for yourself. It’s that good!”

Ralph squinted his eyebrows. “So let me get this straight: You come over to my game during the work day and tell me that I absolutely have to see something at your game and I can’t even see it until the day is over? Why didn’t you just wait until the day was done to come tell me?”

She shrugged innocently. “I was so excited! I couldn’t wait.” 

He sighed and chuckled halfheartedly. “Oh, I will never understand you, kid.” 

She giggled. 

“I promise, at the end of the day, we’ll go over and I’ll check it out with you. Deal?” 

She nodded. “Deal.” She jumped up and latched onto his arm like a leech. He put his arm over her and hugged her softly. They let go and she jumped to the ground.

“Well, since you’re here, you might as well watch me do my job for the entire day.” She smiled nervously and chuckled lightly. “Hey, you’re the one who decided to game jump. Not me.”

QUARTER ALERT! QUARTER ALERT!

Ralph looked back and saw Felix and the Nicelanders assuming their positions.

“Stay right here.” She nodded and watched him walk off to the other side of the map.

Later,

The sound of go-kart engines drowned out the sounds of the roaring grandstands in the sugar coated world of Sugar Rush. The current player kept her foot on the gas pedal and watched the peanut butter cup themed boy mirrored her exact motions in his kart, which resembled his theme. The boy with blond hair and peanut butter cup hat cut in front of the girl with a candle on her head and was now neck and neck with the cherry pie themed girl (She could never remember their real names). 

The player shifted gears and pressed harder on the accelerator and Rancis went rocketing by her. The finish line was rapidly approaching and the sounds of the cheering assortments of candy came rushing back. He crossed the checkered ground and tiny candy sprinkles were raining down as confetti. He swerved to a stop and waved to the cheering fans. The player pumped her fist in the air and laughed excitedly as the screen now showed her peanut butter avatar standing on a podium and a trophy floated down into his hands. He gripped it in both hands and held it proudly over his head as more confetti was launched in celebration.

“Alright kids, last call! Finish up your game and have a good night.” She turned her head and saw several kids walking out the door of the arcade. The friendly arcade owner, Stan Litwak, holding the door open for them as they went. The girl sighed and looked back to the screen to see her racer still holding his trophy with pride. She hopped out of the driver’s seat and made her way out the door as well. Mr. Litwak looked inside once more to see if all the kids have exited the arcade. Once he was sure, he closed the door behind him and locked it. He put his keys in his breast pocket and walked out of sight.

Rancis blinked, held the trophy limply at his side and scanned the screen in front of him. He sighed and looked down. “It’s all clear. They’re gone.” 

His fellow racers let out an exhausted sigh in unison. “Wow. What a day. I thought it’d never end,” breathed Jubileena with a hand on her chest. 

“Who knew that just sitting down could get so tiring?” Asked Swizzle, shrugging his shoulders as he did. The others murmured in agreement. Rancis stepped off of the podium and rejoined his friends. 

He squinted his eyebrows and looked through the crowd of brightly colored children. “Hey, where did Vanellope go?” 

A girl in a bright, sparkly pink race jacket answered. “You didn’t see her? She left this morning to go over to that big ape’s game for some reason. Seriously, I don’t even know what she sees in him.” 

Rancis sighed disappointedly through his nose. 

Ah man, she missed it. I finally win and she missed it. 

“Well, he did save our game. Remember?” Asked Citrusella. 

“Well, duh I remember! I just don’t get why she keeps hanging around with him all the time.” 

“And did you notice that other player a few games back?” Asked Gloyd. “She was really disappointed when Vanellope wasn’t on the roster.” The others nodded their heads. 

“Well, there’s always tomorrow. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go see what else my upgraded kart can do!” Said Minty. But before she even made her first step, they all heard a distant noise.

THUMP THUMP THUMP 

Minty and the other racers turned around to see a familiar giant making his way past the grandstands and onto the racetrack, approaching the winner’s circle where they gathered. Rancis’ face lit up once he saw the tiny green figure riding on the hulking wrecker’s shoulder. 

“Sour drops,” Taffyta cursed quietly, “him again.” 

Ralph climbed on the stairs and onto the winner’s circle platform, smiling awkwardly at the children in front of him. Vanellope waved at her friends excitedly before she vanished in a blue puff of pixels off of his shoulder and appeared right in front of them. “Hello everyone! I’m back!” 

They turned to their ruler and waved back. “Hi President Vanellope!” 

She gestured back towards Ralph. “You all remember Ralph?” 

Their heads craned upwards to meet his gaze. They put on nervous smiles and waved. “H-hi Ralph.” Taffyta only put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

Vanellope turned to Ralph with a confused expression plastered on her face. “Uh, Ralph? Don’t be rude now! Say hi to everyone!” 

Ralph’s eyebrows raised instantly. “Oh. Right! Uh, let’s see,” he scanned the crowd of racers pointing to them individually and muttering under his breath. “Um, yeah. Hi there, Peanut Butter Lad and uh, Cherry Cheryl, and . . . Uh, Gum, Ball, McGee?” Rancis, Jubileena and Swizzle drooped their shoulders downward and stared at him with expressions on their faces that basically said ‘You kidding me?’ 

“Really?” Vanellope asked with her hands on her hips. 

He looked back down to her. “Oh come on! It’s not my fault that you all have ridiculous names! The only one I can really remember is Candlehead!” He gestured his massive hand in the girls’ direction. Everyone turned to face her, but she paid them no mind as she folded her hands and rocked on her heels, obliviously staring off into the distance while humming something to herself. 

“Which reminds me,” Gloyd spoke up. Ralph watched as the boy in an orange jacket and pumpkin hat tip toe behind the green haired girl. He licked his thumb and pointer finger and squeezed the wick of her candle, extinguishing the flame with a hiss. Vanellope and the other racers gasped in shock and stared at Candlehead, expecting her to explode into a massive tantrum at the boy. 

But she never did.

Gloyd ran backwards and hid behind Snowanna, peeking over her shoulder with a satisfied smirk waiting to watch Candlehead flip out. His eyes squinted in confusion when she didn’t. 

Vanellope raised her finger slowly and spoke up “Um, Candlehead?” 

The oblivious girl blinked and turned to Vanellope. “Yes, Miss President?” 

“Um, aren’t you upset?” 

Candlehead snorted. “Of course not! Why would I be?”

Vanellope looked up at her extinguished candle then back down to her. “Well for starters, Gloyd just put out your candle. You hate it when that happens, don’t you?”

Candlehead knitted her eyebrows then looked up. “Oh, hey, look at that. It is out,” she observed.

“And, you’re not mad?” Taffyta asked from behind. 

She shook her head. “Nope. Here, watch. Give it a sec.” Everyone’s eyes squinted in confusion and they looked back up to her candle.

Pop

A tiny spark ignited and disappeared right next to the wick. Everyone blinked in shock as another spark came and so did another pop. Then another one appeared, but this time, the wick began to glow a bright orange. Everyone’s eyes went wide with wonder as her candle reignited itself. “Wow,” they all said, staring at her in utter disbelief.

“How did you do that?” Crumbelina asked. 

“Hm? Oh! See, I replaced my old candle with one of those trick ones so that I don’t have to worry about my candle going out again,” she said proudly. 

Gloyd revealed himself from behind Snowanna and sighed. “Well Candlehead, we’ve gotta hand it to you. That’s probably the smartest thing you’ve done.”

“What is?”

Gloyd’s face returned to its original confused stare. “Um, your candle?” He said, pointing to it. 

She let out a tiny laugh. “My what?” She stared up and her eyes grew wide with horror. “Sweet and sour milk duds! My head’s on fire!” Everyone’s jaws dropped and stared at the oblivious child.

“Anyhoo,” Vanellope spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention back to her and Ralph. “How about we get down to business.” They all nodded their heads in agreement, except for Candlehead, who was holding onto her hat and staring at the flame in fear. “Alright, I brought Ralph with me this fine and dandy afternoon because he insisted that he wanted to see what our karts can do.” He stared down at her with an expression that was a combination of shock and annoyance. 

“Hey! You’re the one who-”

”So I brought him here to show him! Everyone to your karts!”

None of them moved. They all stood there with nervous smiles and just stared at him. 

Vanellope turned to them confusedly. “Um, you guys coming or what?”

Taffyta cleared her throat and walked up. “Well, Miss President, it’s not that we don’t want to use our new upgrade, it’s just that, well,” she stared accusingly at Ralph, “accidents happen, you know?” 

Vanellope stared at her, not believing what she was hearing. “What, what are you saying?” 

The strawberry themed racer gulped and rocked on her heels, still staring at Ralph. 

“Wait, you’re afraid he’s going to break your guys’ karts? That’s ridiculous! Ralphie here may look tough, but once you get to know him, he’s just a big, misunderstood sour patch kid.”

“Still,” Taffyta continued, “we’re not exactly comfortable with him around.” Ralph stared down at the girl with an eyebrow raised. 

“Plus, remember the time when he destroyed the grandstands?” Adorabeezle asked and everyone nodded and murmured in agreement. 

“But that’s because he was chasing me! He was just trying to-” Vanellope attempted to fight back, but was cut off once again.

“Look Vanellope,” Taffyta interrupted, “we know that you’re protecting your friend here, but we still aren’t comfortable around him. After all, he did almost destroy our game.”

Vanellope gasped in shock at the words that just escaped the girls’ mouth.

“Oh, so you’re holding that against him, are you? ‘Cuz last time I checked, he’s also the one who was ready to sacrifice himself to save it! Well, hey, I might as well hold all of you accountable for all those years of torment and rejection you put me through!” 

Taffyta held up her gloved hands defensively. “That’s not what we’re trying to say, we’re just,”

“Just what, Taffyta?” Vanellope challenged.

Taffyta sighed and lowered her head. 

“I’m not going to put up with this right now, and I’m especially not going to let you guys talk to my friend this way.”

She spun on her heel and walked past Ralph and off of the winner’s circle. “C’mon Ralph. We don’t need them for this anyway.” Ralph turned to look at all the racers and their defeated faces, then he sighed and followed his friend. 

Her kart was directly behind the starting line and in front of all the others karts. She hopped in and started the engine. Ralph walked up to the kart and sat carefully on the rear fender made out of a purple wafer. 

She shifted gears and pushed down on the accelerator, propelling the sloppily made kart forward, leaving Taffyta and the rest of the racers standing alone and saddened on the winner’s circle. Taffyta sighed and walked forward and to her own kart. Soon, the rest of the racers followed suit, going to their own karts and speeding off.

Except for Rancis.

He remained alone on the winner’s circle platform, holding his trophy sadly at his side. He let out a sigh of disappointment and watched his friend zoom away and out of view. 

Vanellope and Ralph reached Diet Cola Mountain and passed through the secret entrance, entering the dark and warm cave that Vanellope used to call home. She screeched to a halt right at the edge of the hot springs. Ralph looked up and marveled at the hundreds of Mentos mints dangling precariously over the pool of scorching hot liquid.

Vanellope hopped out of the kart and paced back and forth, grumbling under her breath. “Stupid Taffyta and her stupid grudge holding skills. Why can’t she just accept that you’re not a monster and just-”

“Vanellope,” Ralph interrupted, but she continued. 

“I mean, you did destroy the grandstands but that’s because I stole from you and you were just-“

“Vanellope,” he tried again. 

“Why can’t she and the others just be nice to you and give you a chance like I did?” She stopped pacing and looked up at her friend.

Ralph closed his eyes and sighed. He stepped off of the rear of the kart and knelt down over her. “Look kid, I know you don’t like it, but its ok,” he reassured. “I’m used to being treated like that.” 

“Well you shouldn’t be,” she said crossing her arms over her chest. 

“I know you’re just looking out for me, and you have no idea how much that means to me, but you have to understand that sometimes there are just things that you can’t really change.” 

She sighed sadly. “I know. I just wish there was something I could do to stop it.” 

“So do I, kid. So do I.”

He stood back up and rubbed his hands together. “Well, let’s not throw ourselves a pity party. You said you have something to show me?” 

Her face lit up. “Right! You’re gonna love this!” She glitched herself back into the driver’s seat and started the engine. She backed up a few feet then stopped. “Come here,” she said, gesturing with her finger to come closer. He obeyed and came up next to the kart, peering down at his friend.

“See this button?” She pointed to a large, red, blinking button down on her dashboard. He nodded. “Watch.”

She pushed it and immediately, a small compartment opened in the hood with a hissing noise, then some object began to rise from it. It looked like a water pistol but slightly larger with a sight on the top of it. 

Ralph looked at the foreign object carefully. 

“Now watch this!” She held on to her steering wheel and began turning it in specific ways. The gun looking contraption on the hood of her kart began to swivel and pivot upwards, aiming the barrel at the Mentos over their heads. 

Vanellope stuck out her tongue and pushed the red button again. A claw with three fingers pushed itself out of the barrel and it snapped open quickly. Then it burst out of the barrel with blinding speed with a long strand of red rope being fed out of the barrel connected to the claw. It soared upwards until it hit a single Mentos mint and latched itself tightly. 

There was a whirring noise and Ralph realized that it was coming from the gun on Vanellope’s kart. The red rope pulled back and the Mentos that the claw was holding onto snapped off. It let itself go of the mint and retreated quickly back into the barrel. The mint fell in the cola with a splash and immediately exploded with a mighty FFFLLLLWWWWWOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH. 

A massive geyser of hot cola erupted upwards, sending the hot liquid shooting everywhere. Ralph ducked and dodged out of the way of the cola, not wanting to be burned once again. The geyser fell down and the pit was calm once again.

Ralph held onto his chest and heaved deeply, attempting to catch his breath. Vanellope looked up at him excitedly. “My kart got a grappling gun! Now I can latch onto the racers ahead of me and bring them down to my position! Isn’t that cool?” 

Ralph stared back down to her. “Um, yeah. Cool.” His eyes darted back down to the dashboard and he raised his eyebrow. “Hey, kid, what’s that?”

He pointed to an object next to the blinking red button. A blue, electronic screen with the number two was shown. She raised her eyes and said, “Oh, that’s the indicator. See, I get a totally awesome grappling gun, but there’s a catch. I can only use it three times per race. Because I just used it, I’ve got only two left until the next race starts.” 

“Ah,” Ralph said as he nodded his head in confirmation.

He rubbed his hands together and looked around the cave. “So uh, now what?”

Vanellope’s face went from excited to confused as she too looked around. “You know, I don’t really know either. This was pretty much what I wanted to show you. What do you think?”

He smiled down to his friend. “It’s awesome, kid. But how about we do something a little less life-risking? Let’s head on over to Tapper’s, whaddya say?” 

She smiled and nodded. “Hop on!”

Ralph sat back on the wafer and she turned the kart around and sped out the exit, heading for the rainbow bridge.

Later,

The two of them jumped off of the five-car train as soon as it stopped at the loading deck. Vanellope ran ahead of Ralph, heading for the entrance to Game Central Station. “Hey kid, wait up! I’m not as fast as you, remember?” She came to a halt and stood impatiently for a few seconds, waiting for her friend to catch up. As soon as he was close enough, she walked forward and entered the massive, golden room. 

Vanellope had been in here about a million times when she goes to visit Ralph, but this place never fails to amaze her with its vastness and the all-round giganticness of the entire place. It isn’t as big as Sugar Rush, but it’s still impressive. The two of them passed character after colorful character, each one ranging from tiny and weak to enormous and scary. But Vanellope held her head high and walked straight toward their destination. 

The red digital sign blinked and scrolled the word ‘Tapper’s’ over the large opening. Not needing anymore invitation, she continued forward . . . Then stopped.

Ralph walked past her, not even realizing he did and kept on going. Vanellope, frozen in her tracks, was looking at something she had never noticed in GCS before. She felt silly for not even noticing it, she’d been to Tapper’s multiple times with Ralph, but this is the first time she’s seen this. To the right side of the opening into Tapper’s was a door. Not a giant, gaping door like the others that led to a new world, it was just a regular, plain old door.

Once she noticed that there were words on the door, she squinted her eyes so that she could read it fully.

WI-FI ROOM  
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY  
DO NOT ENTER

She knitted her eyebrows in confusion and stared at the door. 

What’s in there? What the heck is Wi-Fi?

“Hey! You coming, kid?” She blinked and stared ahead of her. Ralph had turned around and was waiting directly under the digital sign for his friend. “What’s wrong?”

“Um,” she started, “nothing. I’m coming.”


	2. Questions and Answers

“Kid? Hey, kid? You listening?”

“Hm?” 

Vanellope rested her arm on the countertop and lied her chin down on top of it, playing with the straw in her mug full of root beer, not paying her friend any mind. “I asked if you were alright.” Vanellope looked up to see Ralph resting one elbow on the counter and looking down at his friend.

“Hm? Oh, yeah! Yeah, I’m fine.” 

Ralph looked at her questioningly. “You sure? You’ve barely touched your root beer.” 

Her eyes darted to her root beer and she immediately started sucking on the straw as fast as possible. His eyes darted open and his mouth hung slack as she continued to scarf down the cold beverage. She didn’t stop until she was about three quarters done. She removed her lips from the straw and took in a deep breath. She stared at him with her signature wide eye stare. 

“See? Told you, I’m-” before she could finish her lie, her eye twitched and she bit her bottom lip fiercely. She grabbed her proportionally large head and let out multiple moaning noises as what seemed like a piercing cold icicle was drilling itself into it. “Ohhhhh, ohh, oh, ohhhhhhh!” 

Ralph snorted amusedly and raised an eyebrow. “Brain freeze?” She nodded quickly and closed her eyes tightly. Ralph took another sip from his mug.

He brought the mug back down to the table with a refreshed “Ah,” and wiped his mouth clean from the foam.

He looked to the side and saw the owner of the root beer parlor going from bar to bar and sliding cups and mugs down to the customers who were waiting for their drink, whistling his games’ tune as he did. Once he was done serving the last row, he wiped his hands together and strolled over to Ralph and Vanellope, propping his elbow on the counter and leaning towards them. “And how are my favorite duo doing?” His eyes darted to Ralph. “You want another refill, big guy?” 

Ralph looked down at his drink. “Um, no. I’m good.” 

The kind bartender nodded and looked over at the younger customer. “And how about you, darling? Want some more?”

Vanellope was still clutching her head tightly and groaning loudly, but her eyes went to Tapper and she nodded. He let out a little chuckle, grabbed her mug and brought out the hose from under the bar. He set it back in front of her as soon as the foam reached the edge of the glass. “You take it easy now. I know you come from a land of sugar, but a brain freeze can just about do anyone over.” 

She let go of her head, inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. Her eyes opened and relief crossed over her face. “Thanks, Mr. Tapper.” He let out another chuckle and journeyed back to the other tables.

Ralph looked back down to his friend. “So Vanellope, like I was saying before, you wanna tell me what’s up? You aren’t as talkative as you usually are when we visit Tappers.” 

She sighed. “I’m just thinking about Taffyta and the other racers.” Ralph remained silent and looked down to his friend. “How can they still treat you like that after all you’ve done for our game? I mean, I understand that they can feel a little, um, scared around you, after all, they don’t know you the way I do. But they could at least say ‘hi’ or at least wave every once in a while, couldn’t they?” 

Ralph reached down and pulled her bangs away from her eyes.

“Kid, I know you don’t like it, and, yeah, I guess a wave here or there would be appreciated, but it’s like I said before, there’s not a whole lot we can do to change how they feel or how they see me.” She looked sadly at her mug of root beer. “But you know what?” She looked back up at him with wide eyes. “It doesn’t matter what they think, and I don’t care about what Taffyta or the others think of me, either! All that matters is that you’re my best friend in the whole world. And you’ve taught me that being a bad guy isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

She let out a shy smile, but then looked down at her feet sadly, which were dangling barely over the edge of the bar stool. He reached down and lifted her gaze back up to him. “So I don’t care about what they think. All I care about is you.” Her smile grew slightly wider. “Besides, it’s not like I’m not used to being treated like that. I have been through that for thirty years, I know how to handle myself.” 

Vanellope sat up straighter in her seat. 

“Is what I’m saying making any sense?” She nodded. He nodded in return. “Good.” He took another drink from his mug. Vanellope looked down at hers and began playing with the straw once again. She rested her chin on her hand and her face twisted itself into another confused expression.

“Hey Ralph?” 

Ralph was still drinking from his mug, chugging down every ounce of root beer he had. “Hm,” he grunted, showing her she had his attention.

“Do you know what wee fee is?”

“Hm?” His eyes turned downward to see her and he raised his eyebrows while still taking a swig at his drink.

“Well, when we came into Tapper’s earlier, I saw this door that said ‘wee fee room’. What is it?” 

Ralph lowered his mug and swallowed. “Oh, no,” he laughed a little to himself. “It’s not wee fee kid. It’s Wi-Fi.” Vanellope didn’t appear to be any more enlightened. She still questioningly stared at him, not understanding what the new word meant. 

“Which means . . .” she urged him to continue. 

“See kid,” Ralph started, “Wi-Fi allows people to connect to what’s called the internet.” 

Her eyebrows scrunched down and her lips puckered. “What’s the internet?” 

He took another quick sip. “The internet is where people go to get information that they’re looking for. They search for it and the internet brings them to where the answer to their question. You can almost find anything on it.” 

Vanellope’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Wow.” 

Ralph nodded. “But that’s not all, people can also use the internet for entertainment! They can find funny videos, play games, chat with friends, etcetera.” He took another drink and finished his beverage with a satisfied “Ah.” 

Vanellope looked back up at him. “Ralph, can we go to the Wi-Fi room next, then?” She asked excitedly.

His eyes widened and he looked down at her, the look of surprise on his face clearly confusing her. “What?”

“Can we go to the Wi-Fi room?” She repeated. “If you said that everyone else goes there, why can’t we?”

Ralph lightly gasped. “Oh no, no, no, no,” he said frantically, waving his hands in front of her. “When I said ‘people’, I meant actual people, not characters like us,” he corrected. “Sometimes people at the arcade take out these, um, weird rectangle things and they can go on the internet that way. The Wi-Fi room you’re talking about exists because that’s where the connection to the internet comes from. Does, uh, that make any sense to you?” 

Her pointer finger and thumb were pressed against her chin and her eyes darted from side to side, trying to make sense out of what was just told to her.

“I guess so. But I still don’t get why we can’t go in.” 

“Vanellope, the internet is a big, big place,” he reasoned. “If we went in, there’s no telling if we’d be able to make it back out in time before the arcade opens, we might not even make it out of there at all!” 

Vanellope waved him off with a “Pffffft,” and looked back up at him. “You worry too much. Anybody ever tell you that?” He looked down at her in bewilderment. 

“Worry to mu-? Vanellope, the internet is dangerous! I’m not going to allow you to put yourself in danger again.” 

She looked back up at him, irritation clear in her eyes. “I thought we went through this already. I’m able to take care of myself. I may be programed as a kid, but that doesn’t mean I can’t go in and-”

“You’re missing the point,” Ralph interrupted. “This isn’t about how well you can look out for yourself. What I’m trying to tell you is that if you go in there, there’s a million to one chance that you’ll never make it back out! You could even be deleted! Do you want that to happen?” 

She lowered her head. “Well, no, but I-”

“Then this discussion is over.” Ralph hunched his back down and rested his elbows back down onto the table, his eyebrow pointed downward in anger and frustration, and let out a long sigh.

Vanellope pushed her chair away from the table and hopped down. “Fine.” Ralph turned his head and watched her walk over to the exit.

“Vanellope, don’t you even think about going to that room,” he warned. 

She turned and faced him. “I’m not going to that stupid room. I’m going home. I’ll see you later, Jerkbrain.” She turned around and walked through the exit and out of sight. 

He huffed. “Well fine! Go home and pout! Sooner or later you’ve got to realize that I’m just trying to protect you, and you can’t always get what you want!” He clenched his teeth together and took in deep breaths.

He was so focused on the door that he didn’t even realize the entire tavern go deathly silent as the customers stopped what they were doing and looked at Ralph in curiosity and fear. Ralph, still consumed in anger and irritation, didn’t even realized that he had gotten up from his chair and fully facing the exit with both hands curled into fists.

He let out a long sigh and turned around. His face went from anger to confusion as he noticed all eyes glued to him. Tapper was frozen in place with his hand on a nozzle and root beer pouring out and overflowing the mug in his hand. Ralph looked around and saw Sonic, Ryu, Peter Pepper and other characters staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths.

His eyes narrowed. “What are all of you looking at?” Their eyes widened more and then they immediately went about their business, talking and drinking with other characters. Ralph grunted and sat back down. He reached down and picked up his mug only to realize that he has already drunk it dry. He set it back down and rustled his hands in his hair. 

He just sat there with his head resting in his hands and stared at the empty mug. 

Why does she have to be so stubborn? Why can’t she just see that I’m trying to do what’s best for her? 

He went through his mind, asking questions that he himself couldn’t fully answer. He went racking through his brain, trying to come up with some sort of approach as to handle the situation with Vanellope and to make her listen to reason.

But none came to mind.

“Well hey there, partner!” 

His eyebrow squinted and he turned around to see Felix entering the tavern with his wife, Tamora Calhoun. Ralph sighed once again as he saw the taller woman dressed in full body armor with blond bangs hanging just above her eyes. The Sargent isn’t much for social protocol, but she put on her best fake smile and waved half-heartedly. 

Ralph merely spared them a backwards glance and turned his back to the two of them.

Felix’s face twisted from happy to worry as he watched his friend sadly turn away from the two of them. He looked up to his wife with a frown which she returned. They both walked up next to Ralph and sat on the two chairs to his right.

“Ralph? You ok there, pal?” 

He looked down at his games’ hero. “I’m fine Felix,” he reassured. “It’s just Vanellope.” 

Calhoun looked over to him. “You know, we saw her walking over to her sugar infested nightmare of a game as if someone spat in her Yoohoo. So what’s the deal, Wreck-it? What happened with you and the pipsqueak?” 

Ralph looked to the sarge and was about to explain, but he was interrupted once again by her. 

“Hold that thought. Hey Tapper! The usual.” 

Tapper looked up from the mug he was wiping and smiled. “Comin’ right up, Ma’am.” He strolled over to the large barrels at the side of the game and poured a glass of root beer which was then topped with whipped cream and a cherry and Tapper slid the drink down to her waiting hand. 

“Much obliged.” She raised the mug to her lips but stopped once she saw the questioning glance she was getting from Ralph. “What? There’s nothing wrong with a commanding officer having a refreshing drink with whipped cream and cherries after a hard day’s work,” she shrugged. 

She brought the mug to her mouth and gulped down almost a quarter of the mug and brought it down to the table, licking the whipped cream from her lips. Ralph was still staring at her, dumbfounded that such a rough and tough woman could enjoy such a childish drink. Once she saw his mouth hook in an awkward smile, she practically exploded. “Wreck-it, if you even breath a word about this to my men, I will personally rip off your ears cram them up your hindquarters just so you can hear me kicking your-”

“OK! Ok Tammy, that’ll do,” Felix raised his hands and cut her off before she could finish her threat. She sat back down and took another sip.

“Jeepers, what’s with all the potty mouths today?” Calhoun chuckled to herself and Ralph just continued to sit there with his chin resting in his massive palms. Felix cleared his throat. “So Ralph, about you and Vanellope . . . ?” 

Ralph dropped his hands to the table and stared at the two of them. 

“I don’t know. It’s just, she really wanted me to show her the Wi-Fi room and-”

“The Wi-Fi room?!” Felix quickly interrupted. “Oh my land, why would she ever want to go into such a dangerous place?” He squinted his eyelids, searching his brain too for some sort of logical answer. His eyes widened in sudden alarm. 

“Ralph? You didn’t say you’d take her there, did you?” 

“What? No! No, no. Of course not. I told her it was dangerous and that I wouldn’t allow it.” After hearing this, Felix let out a sigh of relief and Calhoun set down her mug of root beer.

“Way to stand your ground, Wreck-it. I’m proud of you,” she chuckled to herself and took another sip. 

“At least you two are happy with it,” he said sadly. “Guys, you should have seen how angry she was at me. I mean, I’ve seen her throw a few tantrums here and there, but I think this one trumps them all.” He rested his chin back on his hand. 

“Ralph, I know it isn’t easy, but no one ever said it would,” Felix comforted. “You are doing the right thing.”

Ralph looked down at his friend. “You really think so?” 

He nodded happily. “Absolutely. Tammy, don’t you think?”

The officer blew her bangs out of her eyes and looked over at Ralph. “You may not be the brightest candle on the birthday cake, but your heart is in the right place.” Ralph smiled. “She’s a kid, she’ll come around eventually. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but sooner or later, she’ll realize that all you’re doing is trying to do what’s best for her.”

Suddenly, the words of Sugar Rush’s ex-ruler/dictator came flooding back to him.

“Ralph, do you know what the hardest part about being a king is? Doing what’s right. No matter what.”

While Ralph may not be a king, he was the most experienced between him and Vanellope. Since the day her game was restored and she returned to her rightful place as the games’ head racer, he had made it his job to look over Vanellope like a little sister. He swore he would do whatever it takes to take care of her. And if that meant that he had to set a few ground rules, then so be it.

Vanellope might not like it now, but it’s for her own good. 

“Thanks, Sarge,” he said with a shy smile. “That actually does make me feel a little better.”

She raised her glass at him and smiled. 

“Glad I could help. Now let’s not dampen this evening with sour thoughts and regret.” Felix and Ralph nodded in reply.

“Hey Tapper! Another drink on the double!”


	3. The Door

Vanellope sat impatiently in the five-car train that led from Game Central Station to her game. 

She fidgeted and squirmed until she was in a comfortable position. She rested her elbows on her knees and stared straight up, looking at the tunnel that consisted of a system of wires and cables that connected her game to GCS. Spastic and random blue sparks flew by over her head as the Chocomotive carried her to destination. She sighed and looked down at her feet which were dangling over the side of the seat.

Her mind raced a mile a minute as she thought about what had happened just a few moments ago.

Stupid Ralph and his stupid rules. Why is he so overprotective? I can take care of myself just fine.

The Chocomotive took a final turn and the scent of sugar and other tasty delicacies reached her nose. She looked straight ahead and saw the bright pink and teal sky of her game. The train came to a slow stop and she hopped off and walked slowly to the entrance of Sugar Rush with her hands in her sweater pockets and nose crinkled in anger toward her friend. 

She stepped out of the tunnel and onto the rainbow bridge, unfazed by the vast, bright, sugar coated world before her with her head hung low and mumbling hurtful words to Ralph under her breath. She lifted her head and looked for any place that she could go to just be alone for a while.

Her eyes instantly drifted over to Diet Cola Mountain.

No, too many memories of him. 

She looked over to the grandstands and the finish line where she saw Taffyta and the other racers standing in a circle and conversing. Albeit that they were just tiny colorful dots from where she was currently standing, she could still tell it was them.

Definitely not. I’m not gonna put up with queen sour pop and her gang of rotten tootsie rolls right now.

After shaking her head, her eyes then landed on her castle which resided on the other side of the map. She sighed.

Well, at least I’ll be alone. 

Vanellope turned to her left and walked over to her kart, which she parked at the exit of the game whenever she left. She hopped in, started the engine, and in a puff of bright red, yellow and green sugar clouds, her car came to life.

She turned it around and sped off to her castle.

At the same time,

“Guys, I’m starting to feel bad.” 

Taffyta turned to look at her cherry themed friend.

“What is it now, Juby?” 

Jubileena twisted her hands together and gulped nervously. “Well, I was just thinking about Vanellope and that big friend of hers.” 

Taffyta rolled her eyes and took a lick of her strawberry flavored lollipop. “For the last time, Bing-Bing, there’s nothing to feel bad about. Vanellope needs to learn to stop hanging around that big oaf sooner or later. I’m just trying to make it sooner.”

“But, she was right about one thing,” 

Taffyta’s eyes narrowed and she glared at the racer standing to Jubileena’s left. “And what would that be, Minty?” 

Minty twiddled her fingers together nervously. “Well,” she started, “he did kind of help save our game from those bugs . . .” she trailed off after being stared down at by Taffyta.

Nobody ever has really stood up to Taffyta before. Honestly, they were afraid to. Crossing paths with her on a bad day (which was almost every day with her) or getting on her bad side usually resulted in her grouping up with the other racers and convincing them to sabotage their kart or to flat out destroy it, forcing them to get a new one before the next day.

No one knows why Taffyta always has to act this way, so high and mighty, behaving as if she’s better than everyone else. They just assumed that to act like this was in her code, simple as that. The programmers just thought that in a world of sweets and adorable children, there had to be that one stuck up little sour puss to ruin everyone’s fun.

The other racers thought that after the game was reset and Vanellope was restored to her rightful place in Sugar Rush, Taffyta would change her ways and actually try being, well, sweet. You know, like her catchphrase? “Stay Sweet!”

But no.

If anything, it has gotten worse.

Because her usual target for emotional abuse has become the leader of their game, she felt she had no choice but to target the other racers instead.

When Vanellope is around, Taffyta can still cough up an attitude, but once she’s gone, the pink racer thinks that she is the one in charge now and bosses the others around.

Come to think of it, that’s the way it usually was, even before they figured out their leader, King Candy was a fraud. She would convince the racers to ruin Vanellope’s newest project and have a good laugh about it later, but right after that, she was barking orders and bossing them around as if nothing had happened.

Sometimes, it was just hard to even be affiliated with the game that she was a part of.

Taffyta huffed and looked right to Minty. “Oh, and who was the one who let the said bugs into our game in the first place?” She asked, lifting both arms at her sides. 

Minty raised her pointer finger questioningly. “Um . . .” 

Before she could come up with an answer, Taffyta snorted and nodded. “Exactly.”

“But, you know,” Taffyta was practically steaming at this point, wondering what was causing the others to question her like this. She turned to Snowanna. “If he hadn’t brought the bugs here, then we never would have found out about Vanellope being our real leader and still be treating her bad.” The other racers nodded and agreed with the girl with the large shaved ice afro.

Taffyta darted her head from side to side, looking at her friends with the upmost surprised expression, mixed with just a touch of betrayal. 

“You know, I’m starting to feel bad too,” Gloyd spoke up. Taffyta whipped her head around and faced the candy corn themed boy who was scratching the back of his neck. “I mean, if Vanellope could become friends with him, then why can’t we?” Taffyta started walking over to the black haired boy with the pumpkin hat with an accusing finger pointed to him. 

“Because, Orangeboar, we are adorable, sweet little angels. And we are not meant to be hanging around with big, ugly wrecking machines that smell bad. That’s why we can’t.” 

Gloyd took note that she didn’t exactly sound adorable or angelic at all.

“Look, Taffyta,” Taffyta turned around to face Swizzle, “I think you’re overreacting. Why can’t-”

“I’m overreacting?! Well, what about all of you guys?” She asked, gesturing to each racer as she did. “I can’t believe that you’re actually defending them! Well, answer me this, if you feel the way you do, then why didn’t you speak up when they were here earlier?” 

None of them said anything, they just lowered their heads and looked ashamed of themselves. 

“That’s what I thought,” Taffyta said with a nod and scrunched up nose.

“Look, the point is,” Crumbelina started, “we’ve all done things that we’re not proud of. And we can’t really forgive ourselves for that. But Vanellope seemed to forgive us for bullying her for fifteen years straight. I think the least we could do for her is at least give that bug guy a chance. I mean, he seems nice enough.”

Taffyta stared unbelievingly at the girl as the other racers nodded and agreed.

“Yeah, Crumbs is right.”

“I second that.”

“Hear hear!”

“How long have I had this candle?”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now!” Taffyta wailed. “Y-you’re actually, but I, you can’t just, Rancis!” The blond boy’s eyes opened widely as he was startled back into reality. Taffyta came up right beside him, put her arm around his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “You’re my right hand man, right?” Before he could get a single word out, he was interrupted by her. “Of course you are. Tell them that they’re being unreasonable.”

Rancis looked to each racer nervously then back to Taffyta, who was dreamily staring at him. 

“Um, well, the thing is Taffyta,” he muttered quietly, but loud enough for the others to hear, “I kind of agree with them. We never really did give Ralph a fair chance.”

Taffyta’s eyes were so wide with shock and anger that Rancis was afraid they were going to fly out and hit him in the face. 

“No, no, no! Don’t side with them!” She said the word ‘them’ as if they were a piece of rotten road kill. “You’re supposed to agree with me! What kind of sidekick are you anyway?” She grumbled to herself and left the circle. “You know what? I don’t need this from you guys right now. I’m leaving. I’ll catch you all at the roster race.”

She grumpily marched over to her kart, started it up and zipped off in the other direction, but not before doing a quick burnout and spraying mounds of dirt and dust in everyone’s faces.

They all coughed and gagged until the dust cloud cleared up. “Man,” Gloyd said, “looks like somebody’s twizzlers are in a knot.” 

“Yeah, you said it,” Adorabeezle agreed. 

After a few moments of silence, Minty spoke up once more. “Well, I’m up for some practice laps over on Sweet Ride. Anyone with me?” The others all shook their heads yes and ran to their karts . . . Except for Rancis.

Swizzle started his engine and was about to speed off over toward the next track with the others, but he saw Rancis standing in the same spot as he was before, not moving a muscle.

“You coming, Rancis?”

Rancis lifted his head up and looked at his friend. “Oh, um, I’ve got some stuff I need to take care of. You go on. I’ll catch up with you later.”

Swizzle shrugged. “Suit yourself. Later.”

Swizzle brought his foot down onto the accelerator and drove off with the others, leaving Rancis alone with his thoughts.

He sighed and rested his hands in his pockets, kicking a chocolate rock over to the grandstands. 

The others are right, we need to give that Ralph guy a chance. Besides, if there’s any chance that she’d feel differently around me, it starts by befriending Ralph.

But what’s the best way to apologize to her?

Flowers? No, too forward and weird. 

How about I- 

His thoughts were cut off by the sound of a go kart engine approaching fast. 

He turned and saw the familiar, sloppily made (yet surprisingly kind of charming) kart and its driver speeding over to him.

Rancis’ eyes widened as he saw his chance to make it up to her.

“Vanellope! Hey Vanellope!” He ran a few paces forward and waved, trying to get her attention.

“I wanted to talk-“

ZZZZOOOOOOOOOMMMM

Vanellope rocketed past him, not even sparing him a backwards glance. The wind from her kart blew Rancis’ hat right off of his head. He stood frozen in place for a few seconds with his finger helplessly raised. He dropped both hands to his sides and sighed disappointedly. 

I guess she’s still miffed at us from earlier. Can’t really blame her though, can I? It’s not like I stood up for her when she needed it.

With one last breath of disappointment, Rancis walked back to his hat and dusted it off. He placed it back on his head and made his way to his kart. He started it up and went to join Swizzle and the others at Sweet Ride.

Later,

Vanellope stomped on the brakes as hard as she could and skidded to a violent stop just yards away from the castle’s entrance. She cut the engine and hopped out, walked straight for the large doors and dodging the Oreo guards as they marched in formation, chanting as they did.

“Or-e-o, Oreeeee-o, Or-e-o, Oreeeeeo.” 

She had her eyes set on the door, not allowing anything else into her peripheral vision, which was a big mistake. She took another step forward and got bumped by one of the guards. She lost balance but quickly regained her footing and pressed onward. “Watch where you’re going pal.”

It wasn’t long though before another cream filled chocolate cookie guard walked straight into her once again. She lost her footing and fell to her hands and knees, grumbling to herself and making a mental note to replace these guys.

Vanellope’s eyes narrowed and she stared straight at her guards. “Can you guys give it a break for a while?! Sheesh.” In an instant, the enlarged Oreos froze in place and quit their chanting. She waved them off and made her way inside the castle. Once the door was closed, the Oreos took that as their cue to continue.

“Or-e-o, Oreeeeeo.” 

After she had closed the door, Vanellope leaned her back against it and slid down to a sitting position, exhaling loudly and grumbling under her breath.

“Welcome back, Miss President.”

“Eep!”

Vanellope started violently and looked to her right to find her tiny, sour, green assistant standing there, not showing the slightest hint of any emotion, as usual.

Vanellope took in a calming breath. “Sweet mother of monkey milk Bill, you scared the living code out of me!” 

He blinked. “My apologies. Hard day today, Miss President?” 

She let out a hollow snort. “I guess you could say that.” 

Sour Bill nodded his head slowly. “Mmm I see. Anything you need at the moment, Miss President?” 

She sighed and shook her head, lifting herself back up to her feet. “No, no, for right now I think I just want to be alone for a while.”

He closed his eyes and nodded. “As you wish,” he sighed. “Please call if you need anything else, Miss President.” He added that last part as if he were forced to, like it was part of his job to be miserable. 

She nodded. “Thanks.” 

“Mhmm.”

With one last nod, Vanellope watched her armless and legless sourball of an assistant turn his back to her and walk past the royal kart and to the other side of the curtains.

Vanellope took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, walking with her hands connected with each other behind her back and her head hanging low as if she were thinking of something. 

She approached the steps that were right beside the throne and walked up, not before sneaking a quick glance at the kart that was meant for her though.

She looked at the sparkly white kart with a crown painted on the hood with disinterest. 

She was the leader of the game, and therefore, she was supposed to be the owner of that kart. But she doesn’t ever use it, it brings back too many painful memories of King Candy and his horrible methods of keeping ‘glitches’ in their place. 

She kept the kart for two reasons:

She keeps it there to remind herself to never, ever stoop to his level and to be a nice, reasonable and fair ruler. Even if it can be challenging to stay that way around particular racers . . .

She also keeps it there so it makes the throne room look complete.

Besides, she already has a perfectly good kart now. A special one made by her and her best friend. Well, at the moment, he was anyway. 

She reached the top level and was greeted with a long hallway that stretched down for at least fifty meters. Doors lined themselves up along the walls on both sides making a staggered pattern. Vanellope started walking down the hallway with her head still hanging low and her hands behind her back, looking at nothing but the salmon rug beneath her feet as she went.

She blinked and looked at the doors on her right hand side as she walked. Each room was numbered accordingly with odds on the left and evens on the right. 

With nothing else to do as she continued down the hall and to her presidential headquarters, she counted the numbers in her head.

56 . . . 58 . . . 60 . . . DO NOT ENTER . . .

She stopped and looked at the door again. She rubbed her eyes and blinked them clear and read the sign on the door once again.

62.

Her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

I could’ve sworn that just said,

“Huh?” She spun around and looked at the door behind her and read what was displayed.

WI-FI ROOM.

She closed her eyes and shook her head violently. She opened them back up and read the door again.

61.

She took in a few deep, calming breaths.

Calm down, Vanellope. Your head is just messing with you. Just keep calm, and-

“What?” 

She looked to the door next to it and read, “Very Dangerous. Do Not Enter.”

She spun on her heel and took a look at all the other doors. Either someone was playing some cruel trick on her, or she was going insane.

DO NOT ENTER.

WI-FI ROOM.

KEEP OUT.

STAY CLEAR.

VERY DANGEROUS.

She closed her eyes tightly and thought silently to herself. 

Come on, girl. You’re stronger than this. It’s just a stupid door, I don’t care what’s inside anyway.

Suddenly, Ralph’s voice came flooding into her head again.

“The internet is a big place . . . It’s too dangerous . . . I’m not letting you put yourself in danger again . . .”

Vanellope grabbed hold of her head and dug her nails into her hair and pulled wildly. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Clamping her eyes shut, she ran forward in a straight line, careful as to not bump into the walls or doors. She opened them back up to find the door to her room quickly approaching on her left. She dug her feet into the ground and came to a quick halt. She turned to face her door and reached for the knob.

She closed her eyes again and could feel a trickle of sweat slide down her cheek, not wanting to look up to see what this door would say. 

“Don’t look up, don’t look up, don’t look up.” But her curiosity overcame her will power, and her head slowly lifted up. Her eyes immediately darted to the sign above her head.

And what this single sign said was the most convincing and frightening of them all.

GO.

Vanellope stood frozen in place, staring with wide eyes at the word in front of her, analyzing and thinking at a mile a minute as to what the meaning was behind it.

But she already knew.

Without another moment’s hesitation, she let go of the knob and bolted in the direction she came from, rocketing and glitching herself forward faster than she knew she could. 

Stupid Ralph . . . Thinks I can’t handle myself. I’ll show him. 

She bolted down to the exit of the hallway, raced down the stairs, exploded into the gigantic throne room and quickly made her way over to the large double doors.

She didn’t even bother opening the door. She glitched herself through and reappeared on the other side, startling the Oreo guards. She barreled past them and hopped into her kart. She immediately pushed the starter button and the kart came to life. She turned around and the kart rocketed down the path it came from, leaving the Oreo guards in a trance of confusion.

She squinted her eyelids as the wind blew by her, flipping her ponytail in the air as she went. In what seemed like seconds, she reached the base of the rainbow bridge and began ascending up to the exit of her game. The Chocomotive station came into view, but rather than slow down to a stop, she sped up.

She reached the platform and then drove into the tunnel. Blue sparks flying and bursting under her tires as she went sailing by with determination clearly visible in her eyes. She pressed her foot down on to the gas pedal all the way to the floor. Her head jerked back slightly and she proceeded down the dark tunnel. She took a left turn and the kart was driving along the curve of the wall of wires.

A light appeared at the end of the tunnel and she squinted her eyelids. 

In an instant, she burst through the entrance platform and flew straight into Game Central Station. It wasn’t as crowded as Vanellope thought it would be, considering that it is after arcade hours. But at least it gave her more room to drive. 

She drove to the entrance of Tapper’s and her target finally came into view.

Meanwhile,

“No way,” Ralph said disbelievingly.

“It’s true. Every word,” the Sergeant confirmed, taking another drink of root beer. 

“Jaminy. Somebody actually found a short cut in your game?” 

Calhoun set down her mug and nodded to her husband. “I’m just as shocked as you are, sweetie. Nobody’s ever found that secret entrance before. I was starting to believe no one would ever find it.”

Ralph pursed his lips and squinted his eyes, clearly trying to piece something together. “Where was it?”

“I’m glad you asked, Wreck-it. You know that elevator shaft that is on the other side of the building?” 

Ralph raised his finger, ready to answer the question, but he quickly dropped it, realizing he had no idea what she was talking about.

“No.”

“Well, the secret room that leads directly to the lab at the top of the tower is about five clicks due east from there.” 

Felix looked astonished. “Wow. That sure must be handy. I bet that that’s a heck of a lot easier than fighting off all those bugs.” His wife nodded and took another sip while Ralph still looked befuddled. 

“But I still don’t know anything about that elevator.”

SSSSSCCCCCCRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

KKKKKSSSSSSRRRRRRAAAAAASSSSHHHHH

Ralph raised his head and fists in alarm while Felix raised his hands over his head defensively and Calhoun spat out her root beer. Everyone else in the bar froze in place and looked around frantically for the source of that noise. Calhoun wiped her chin with her fist and unstrapped her pistol from its holster. She turned on her heel and faced the entrance of the tavern.

Ralph stood up from his seat and looked over to the exit as well, raising his fists in a fighting stance. Felix jumped off of his stool and hid behind his wife’s legs, peaking over the side at the exit cautiously. “What in the name of Leroy Jenkins was that?” Calhoun asked, her pistol never looking anywhere else but the exit.

“I have no idea,” Ralph breathed. “Should we go check it out?” 

Felix shrugged. “I’m not sure. Maybe we should let the surge protector take care of it. Whatever, or whoever it was sounded like they had some sort of vehicle with them. Did you hear how loudly those tires squealed?”

Ralph looked down at his friend then back to the entrance. 

That did sound awfully like . . .

His eyes widened in realization. 

“Oh no.”

The Fix-it’s looked at Ralph questioningly as he slowly let his fists fall to his side and a spooked expression on his face. “Ralph, you alright there, brother?” 

He didn’t answer. Rather, he just took off in a sprint and ran straight through the entrance, not waiting for Felix or Calhoun. “Ralph! Wait!” Calhoun called, but he was already gone. She looked down to her husband. “Let’s go, hun.” 

At the same time,

Vanellope successfully broke down the door with her kart. She didn’t even bother trying the door knob, it was probably locked anyway. 

She inched her kart forward and ran over the door which was now lying on the floor with its hinges bent and destroyed. Vanellope gaped in wonderment as she entered a bright white hallway that lasted about fifteen feet and led to a room which she couldn’t see from back at the entrance. All she could make out was a strange, blue flickering light.

With an eyebrow raised, she lightly tapped gas pedal and slowly made her way to the other end of the hall. The blue light becoming brighter and brighter as she went. 

A brown, wooden sign hung from the ceiling close to the opening of a larger room. Vanellope read it out loud. “Litwakrouter950501?” She waved off the mild curiosity she had toward it and went on her way.

A slight humming sound was emanating from the room up ahead, the only other sound in this hallway besides Vanellope’s kart engine rumbling and echoing off the sides of the walls. The entrance was a mere few feet away. The blue light was now flickering brighter than before as she finally drove through the entryway and in the open room.

Vanellope’s eyes nearly bugged right out of her head at the sheer size of the place. The room must have been twenty feet long and wide with a seemingly never ending ceiling. At the other end of the room were five circular steps, each one slightly smaller than the other as they rose up. At the top of the last step is what caught her attention, however. On the top step, a blue, circular, pillar type object that rose higher than she thought possible. She heard the sound of something humming and vibrating and noticed it was coming from the blue pillar. That’s when she noticed it wasn’t just an object.

This blue, thing, seemed to be a beam of pure energy with a hint of white around the edges and at its core. The beam went up and up, higher and higher until it disappeared into the blackness high above her.

She quickly realized that this must be the thing that allows people to go to the internet.

She stared in awe and amazement at the never ending blue beam.

“Wow,” she whispered. 

She stood up from her seat and leaned forward on the dashboard to get a better look.

“Vanellope!”

Her heart skipped a beat and she jumped nearly out of the kart. She turned around and saw three familiar figures making their way down the hall and coming straight for her. Ralph, Calhoun and Felix stopped breathlessly a few yards behind her with mixed expressions of anger, surprise, and shock plastered on their faces.

“What are you doing?!” 

She looked over to Ralph who looked just about ready to blow a gasket. “Well, I, um,” she stuttered helplessly. 

“No, stop. I’ll tell you what you’re doing. You are coming back with us right now, young lady!” 

Vanellope stuck out her bottom lip. “You can’t just-” she was cut off by Calhoun.

“No back sass, Private! You’re coming with us right now! That’s an order!” 

The little girl glared at the Sergeant. “I’m not back sassing! I was just-” 

This time she was cut off by Felix. “I’m afraid theirs no flex on this one, Miss Vanellope. You are coming with us right-”

“NO!”

The trio blinked in shock and backed up a pace. “I’m sick of you three always treating me like a defenseless kid who can’t take care of herself, but you know what?” The three of them continued to stare at the little girl in her kart.

“I can take care of myself! I’ve lived alone in Diet Cola Mountain for fifteen years looking out for myself only and I did just fine! I went through physical and emotional pain for fifteen years and I’m fine! I can take care of myself without you guys’ help! I’m tired of you always saying ‘we can’t do that, it’s too dangerous! Let’s go over to the safer game and just . . . Just,’ No! Not anymore!”

The adults just stood rooted in their spots, not moving a single inch as they waited for Vanellope’s tantrum to fade away. Which didn’t seem to be any time soon.

“I’m going to show you I can watch out for myself.” 

Ralph finally stepped up. “Vanellope, no one is saying you can’t look after yourself. We’re just trying to-”

Vanellope clenched her hands into fists and stared up at the large wrecker.

“Nothing you can do is going to change my mind! You are going to start treating me fairly and-”

“Vanellope, you’re acting like a brat! I can’t believe you’d disobey me like this! You don’t think going in there is a big deal. But guess what, it is! You’re going to hurt yourself!”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” She shrieked, pointing at him furiously. “Trying to do ‘what’s best for me’ when you know I am totally fine on my own! Well you know what? That’s going to change right now!” She pounded her fists on the rear end of her kart, causing it to jerk slightly and hiss.

Ralph noticed the compartment over the hood opening up and the familiar grappling gun rose from below, whirring and twisting as it did. Vanellope stared at it in confusion as she heard it click and grind, like it was working on its own. The three fingered claw burst out of the barrel and flew straight into the beam, disappearing instantly, the licorice rope going taut as it did.

Vanellope’s and Ralph’s went wide as they heard her tires starting to squeal. They looked down and noticed her kart was beginning to inch forward. Ralph’s heart plummeted once he realized what was happening. Vanellope and her kart were being pulled into that thing.

The kart suddenly rose from the ground and took off like a bullet towards the blue beam. Vanellope let out a shriek of fear as she was pushed back into her seat and saw it coming closer and faster. “No!” Ralph jumped forward just in time to grab her two back tires. He dug his feet into the clear linoleum floor, trying with all his might to pull her away from that thing. Vanellope turned her head around and looked Ralph right in the eyes, her fearful expression matching his, only his facial expressions were mixed between fear and physical exhaustion.

Ralph tried to step backwards but the force opposing him was too strong. He lost his footing and fell straight on his face, releasing the wheels. He looked back up quickly to see Vanellope leaning out of her kart with her hand outstretched towards him, as if trying to pull herself back with some invisible force. Ralph watched helplessly as his best friend in the whole world disappeared in the beam.

“No! Vanellope!” Without thinking, he shot up to his feet and raced over to the circular steps at the end of the room.

“Ralph! Wait!” He heard Felix’s panicked voice behind him, but chose to ignore him.

Ralph reached the base of the steps, climbed up each one and leapt into the beam.

“Ralph!” Felix cried before his wife lifted him up and tucked him under her arm. 

“Hold on honey!” She shouted. 

With her husband securely under her arm, she started sprinting over to the beam as well, letting out a war cry as Felix let out a cry of fear.

They reached the steps, leapt up and allowed the beam to consume them.


	4. Where Are We?

The first thing Ralph felt when he charged through the blue energy beam was . . . Nothing. He hurled himself into it like a mouse to cheese and felt himself being suspended in the open air. Almost as if he were floating in a never-ending expanse of pure blue.

He was not standing on any solid surfaces, but nothing was holding him up either. He stared at his hand and wiggled his fingers, as if trying to see if he still had control over himself. He patted himself over and over again on his body, trying to make sure that he was still in one piece. He let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding once he saw that every part of him was accounted for.

His eyes immediately went wide once he remembered the reason why he was in this weird, blue thing in the first place.

He twisted his body around in multiple directions, trying to see if he could spot his tiny friend. “Vanellope?” Despite being in what seemed like a very vast, open area, his voice did not echo. “Vanellope? Where are you?!” 

“Raaaaalph!” 

His heart stopped as he heard the tiny voice call out to him.

He twisted his head left and right, trying to find her. But he was only met with more blue. 

“Kid! Vanellope! Where are you?!” 

“Raaaaalph!”

He blinked multiple times and looked up (at least he thought it was up. He couldn’t tell in a place like this). His heart stopped once again, then it plummeted down to his stomach.

High above him, he spotted a large, brightly colored rectangular figure swirling and spiraling aimlessly. He also made out a small dot that was sitting inside said rectangular figure, grasping onto the sides of it with her eyes clamped shut so tightly that even he probably wouldn’t be able to pry them open on his own.

“Vanellope!”

Ralph waved his arms frantically in spiraling motions, attempting to position himself so he could somehow make his way up to her. His large, bulky frame tilted slowly to a vertical position as he continued to thrash his arms around like a baby bird that just learned to fly. He set his sights dead on Vanellope’s position and began trying to float his way over to her.

But he wasn’t getting any luck.

He spun his arms wildly in swimming-like motions and kicking his feet in desperate attempts to gain momentum, but he felt like he was getting nowhere. He didn’t care though. He was going to get to Vanellope one way or another, and nothing was going to stop him.

As he continued trying to make his way up the blue void and to his best friend in the world, he heard multiple murmuring and screaming sounds coming from not far below him.

He scrunched up his eyebrows confusedly and looked downward. His eyes went wide with surprise as he saw two more figures, one in all black that was holding onto another smaller figure that was dressed in mostly blue clothing. Ralph felt his insides run cold as he saw Felix and his wife spiraling and spinning, grasping onto each other tightly as they did.

He took in a shaky breath then gasped as he felt himself tilting downwards, facing Calhoun and Felix now rather than Vanellope. His hands went flailing out to the sides, frantically searching for something to grab onto to steady himself, but was unable to find one. His arms continued to thrash wildly as his body did multiple somersaults and flips, causing his stomach to turn and his vision to blur.

Once he was able to steady himself, he placed his hand over his mouth to keep the contents of his belly down where they belonged. He opened his eyes back up slowly and found that he was now positioned so he could see Vanellope still in her kart and sailing high above him. 

However, something else above her caught his attention. 

He squinted his eyelids so he could make out exactly what it was.

The only problem was, he has no idea what that is. It appeared to be a tiny white dot. While it was a ways away from Vanellope, and even farther away from him, it was a very bright looking object. 

He felt as though that his mind was playing a trick on him, because it seemed that the longer he looked at it, the wider and brighter it grew. At first, it started out barely the size of his fingernail. But then it grew to at least the size of his open palm, then grew even wider to the full length of his belly. 

His eyes widened as he came to a sudden realization.

He wasn’t just floating, and he wasn’t just staying in one spot. He, Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun were, in fact, moving.

They were moving upwards, at a speed so fast that he didn’t even realize he was moving at all, towards that white thing and he quickly put together that it must be some sort of entrance to a place that he hadn’t originally planned on going to anytime in the near future. 

I’ve got to get to Vanellope! Now!

He resumed his arm swinging and leg kicking, trying to reach Vanellope before she reached the white light, which was growing larger and larger by the second. He could see her tiny head swing back and forth, looking frantically between the light and at her enormous wrecking friend. She leaned out of her kart and reached her hand out towards him, just like she had back in Game Central Station just moments ago. 

His arms growing tired and his lungs running out of air, he gave up his hopeless arm swinging and just stared into her large, hazel eyes. He returned the gesture, extending his hand out towards her too.

And faster than he had time to blink, her kart disappeared into the light.

“No!”

The white light grew larger and wider and brighter by the second. He held his hand over his eyes to shield them from the blindingly bright white. 

He found it hopeless to struggle against the pull of the light and let his body go slack, accepting this unknown fate and anticipating what was on the other side. 

“Hold on kid,” he whispered. “I’m coming.”

He closed his eyes as the whiteness consumed him.

Later,

“People! People!” The surge protector waved his arms in front of him, trying to keep the many worried characters at bay. “I’m going to have to ask you all to please be patient as we sort this situation out,” he said in a slightly calmer voice.

The surge protector was standing in front of the busted door that lead to the Wi-Fi room trying to calm down the many video game characters that were surrounding the area and bombarding him with questions that he didn’t know the answer to just yet. 

“Who all went in there?”

“Are they insane?”

“What if they don’t come back out again?”

“Listen,” the surge protector said trying to raise his voice at a level that was higher than the amount of chatter that was right before him. But he was not even able to hear himself think over these people. “I don’t have any information on the matter at the moment. I must advise you that all questions should be taken to our office where we will-” He stopped mid-sentence when he heard someone clearing their throat behind him.

The blue, balding man turned around and faced another surge protector that was on the other side of the door which was X’d off with bright yellow tape. He signaled with a nod that he needed him to follow him back into the room. Surge pushed up his glasses and nodded in return. He turned back to face the mob and raise both his hands and his voice.

“Excuse me,” he said, gaining more of their attention. “As of now, this area is under a criminal investigation.” The crowd let out a collective gasp. 

“But, how do you know if a crime even took place here?” Asked a worried character which he recognized as one of the main characters in Street Fighter. 

“We don’t,” the surge protector admitted, “that’s the point of setting up a criminal investigation.” He rolled his eyes. “Now this area is under strict lockdown until further notice. I suggest that all of you go about your day until we have the situation sorted out. Please be safe and have a nice day,” he pleaded.

To his surprise, the questions died down and the crowd dispersed.

He let out a long, exhausted breath and dropped his arms to his sides. He turned and ducked under the yellow caution tape and entered the room where the other surge protectors were gathered in a circle and chatting amongst themselves about the events that have taken place. He entered the large white room with his clipboard tucked under his arm and marched toward the group of exact lookalikes. 

One of them noticed his presence and cut off the conversation. “There you are!” The others stopped talking and turned to him as well. He held up his hand. “Yes, yes, I’m here. Listen, Game Central is in a state of panic. We need to-”

“Why?” 

He stared questioningly at one of the protectors. “Why what?” 

The surge protector in question shrugged. “Why are they panicking? It just seems odd that they’re the ones that are scared rather than who just went in there. What is there to be afraid of?” 

The head surge protector glared at him. “There is a system that helps protect the arcade from the dangers of the internet. We have firewalls and virus protection software that prevents anything harmful from being released into our world.”

The other protector looked like he was trying to piece all of this together. “Well, that doesn’t really answer my question. What does that have to do with-”

“Someone from this arcade has just entered the internet. They may inadvertently tamper with safety protocol and shut down all security codes.” The other surge protector’s eyes went wide in realization. “Unleashing a foreign entity into the arcade.”

The other protectors gasped.

“Like binary infections!”

“Or code disrupting bugs.” 

“Or a virus.”

The others gasped once more, placing hands over their agape mouths and mumbling worriedly to one another.

“Exactly,” said the head protector, aiming his ballpoint pen at the protector who brought said virus up. 

“Now, as surge protectors, it is our duty to not let that happen and to keep Game Central Station under control. You, you and you are on patrol duty. Report back to me if you find anything out of the ordinary,” he ordered, pointing to three different protectors.

They stood at attention with feet together and hands at their sides. “Yes sir,” they said in unison before zipping into the floor below them in a white flurry and zooming out the door in three separate directions. 

“You three are on guard duty. Stand by that door at all times and don’t let anyone come so much as an inch to the entrance.” Without another word, the three surge protectors did as they were told and zipped to the entrance standing in a triangle formation outside the door standing at the ready.

“The rest of you are with me. We’re staying here until we find out what in the name of Stan Litwak happened in this room.” They nodded. 

The head protector placed his hands behind his back and paced in front of them, heading toward the blue beam. “Now, do we have any leads as to who it was exactly that went in there?”

One protector cleared his throat.

“Yes sir. Three eye witness reports say that they saw four characters running into the room. Two male and two female,” he said as he read off of his clipboard. 

The head SP nodded. “Does anyone know when this all took place?”

“No more than forty-five minutes ago, sir.” 

“And no confirmation on the names of who broke in?”

“None so far, sir.”

The head SP sighed and rubbed his sinuses soothingly. 

“What exactly can we do to help them in there?”

He turned and faced the others. He remained silent for a few moments before finally giving an answer. 

“There’s nothing we can do now but wait and hope for the best.”

Later,

“Van . . . Vanellope . . . Don, don’t go in there,” Ralph muttered with eyelids fluttering softly. 

“D, don’t go in the . . . the light. Kid, you’ll . . . never, come. . .”

His eyes allowed light to pour in through his protective lids, causing him to squint and raise his hands over his face.

“Van . . . Vanellope. Vanellope?” He slowly lifted his body off the soft ground he felt beneath him.

“Vanellope!”

His eyes burst open and he launched his body upward, rising to a full sitting position. As soon as he did, he was rewarded with a blinding light that threatened to turn his eyeballs into withered up pieces of bacon. He quickly slammed them shut and held his forearm over his face and backed up. The light disappeared and he felt his back run into something.

He stopped and slowly opened his eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light. 

Once his vision was fully restored, he blinked multiple times and realized that the light went away because he had stepped into a shaded area. “What the?” he turned around and faced the object which he ran into. 

It was a tree. 

It resembled a tree that he would normally see back in his own game. Rather than the trunk being round, it had four distinct sides to it, revealing it to be in the shape of a square. The square trunk rose slightly above his head and a large cluster of leaves met his gaze.

Well, they weren’t ‘leaves’ per se. Rather they were multiple blocks of cubes that were all the same length and width apart with the same pattern of leaves decorating all of them.

He lifted one eyebrow questioningly and turned around and was faced with a similar tree a few feet in front of him, complete with its square trunk and cubed leaves. 

Her turned his head to the left and found more trees. He looked down to the ground and found that he wasn’t exactly standing on grass like he’d expected. He was standing on a flat, green plain that merely resembled grass.

He did a full three-sixty before he came to the conclusion that he was in a strange, cube forest.

“What? Where am I?”

He walked forward a few paces, looking from tree to tree confusedly.

He stopped once a certain thought popped itself into his head

Vanellope! Felix! Calhoun!

His eyes went wide with fear and worry and waved his hands frantically at his sides. “No! No, no, no, no, no. Oh gosh, no. Where, where are they? I just saw her and she was, she was up there and I, I, where are they?” He gasped for air and dug his fingers into his hair. He kept them there for a few moments before lowering them to the sides of his mouth and prepared to shout their names, hoping at least one of them could hear him.

But before he could, a soft rustling noise caught his attention.

He peered over his shoulder over in the direction where it came from. A combination of fear, hope and curiosity washing over him.

“Uh, he, hello?” He was met with the same rustling noise as before. 

“Is someone there?”

From behind one of the trees, a black figure rolled in front of him and disappeared behind another tree, moving too quickly for him to be able to identify what it was.

“Hello?” He repeated. 

He took two cautious steps forward before the black figure popped out from behind the tree and standing right before him, and she was armed to the bone.

“Taste it!”

Calhoun snatched out her repeater rifle and aimed it at Ralph. He yelped in alarm and dashed to the side, avoiding a hail of gunfire that destroyed the terrain behind him, cutting through the trees like they were made of nothing at all, causing a portion of the trunk to disappear instantly and the tree toppled over, crushing the leaves resting on top of it in the process. 

Calhoun continued firing and watched as her gun mercilessly tore through the foliage. Ralph jumped and rolled behind another tree. While it wasn’t nearly wide enough to fully cover him, it was a better hiding spot than nothing. As soon as he heard the shots stop, he raised both hands on either side of the tree and spoke up.

“Calhoun! It’s me! Ralph! Stop shooting at me you crazy lady!”

There was a pause. 

“Wreck-it?”

He only realized he was closing his eyes when he finally snapped them back open. He slowly stepped out from behind the tree and saw the Sergeant with her rifle lowered. Her eyes widened. “Oh, there you are. Sorry about that, Pal.” 

He lightly coughed under his breath. “’Sorry?!’ That’s what you have to say for yourself?! You could have killed me! What’s wrong with you?” She lowered her eyebrows and crinkled her nose distastefully.

“Well excuse me! Here I am in the middle of some forest and I find a big, bear-like creature. So sorry if I felt the need to defend myself!” She barked. 

Ralph’s eyes went wide in disbelief. “But you, I just, how could you just, GAHH! You nearly killed me!” 

She held up her pointer finger. “But I didn’t.” 

Ralph snorted and threw his hands at his sides, rolling his eyes as he did. “Fine, whatever,” he dismissed. “What we need to do now is-”

“Whoa!”

Both of their faces twisted into confused and shocked expressions as they heard a sudden, familiar cry.

They turned their heads to where the noise came from and heard the sound of a go kart rumbling and echoing from the forest. “Vanellope?”

On cue, a bright pink and green frosting smothered go kart with a tiny driver in the seat came from around a corner and was heading straight for them. What else caught their attention was a smaller man in a blue uniform sitting on the rear fender where Ralph always sits, clinging to it desperately and hanging on for dear life.

“Vanellope!”

“Felix!”

Once Ralph saw her, his face immediately lit up with relief and joy.

Oh thank goodness she’s ok! 

He could hear her yell over the roar of the engine, but was unable to understand what it was. He squinted his eyebrows and raised his hand to his mouth.

“What?” He yelled.

They were getting closer. She shouted at him again.

“WHAT?!” 

The kart sped closer to him. He shifted on his feet uncomfortably.

“I said GET ON!”

Vanellope didn’t even jerk the wheel in a different direction. She rammed her kart right into his knees and knocked him to the hood of her kart. He landed and instinctively gripped both sides of the kart trying to steady himself.

He darted his head from side to side, trying to make sense of what was going on. 

His mind reeled back to the moment when he was falling into the base of Diet Cola Mountain and expecting his demise until Vanellope glitched her way to the unfinished bonus level and saved him by ramming her borrowed kart into his ribs and teleporting back outside. 

He looked at windshield of her kart, expecting to see her with a smirk on her face and give him a salute like last time. But she didn’t. Instead, the look on her face was what could not be mistaken for anything else other than fear. He looked back up and could see Felix, who was holding onto his hat with one hand and onto the kart with the other. He stared at his wrecking friend and attempted to give him a kind smile and wave.

His eyes darted back to Vanellope. “Kid! You’re alright! What’s going on?” He shouted over the sound of her engine. 

She eyed him nervously. “No time to explain, Ralphie! Now shut up and hold on!” She shifted her kart into another gear. He tightened his grip so much that he think he felt the frame of her kart began to crumble beneath his hands. 

She swerved her steering wheel left and right, avoiding the square trees while sending his lower body swerving and swinging precariously side to side over the hood of the kart. He squinted his eyelids and peered over behind the kart to see Calhoun keeping up with them by riding on her cruiser (which she must have had the whole time yet Ralph didn’t even notice), swerving between the trees as she went.

He looked back down at his friend. “Um, Vanellope?” He shouted. “What exactly are we running from?” She looked him in the eyes and replied “I’ll explain later! We’re almost out!”

Ralph looked behind his shoulder to see a final line of trees that he assumed lead to the exit of this forest.

With one last turn of the wheel, they burst through and were met with bright sunshine and more green grass. She stomped on her brakes and brought the kart to a sudden halt. Felix let out a startled yelp but was able to successfully stay on the back of the kart.

The same could not be said for Ralph, however.

The moment she even applied pressure to the brakes, he was sent flying backward and rolled several feet on the fake grass before coming to a slow stop. He groaned and sorely heaved himself to his wobbly feet, just in time to see Vanellope zip out of her kart and made a beeline for Ralph before throwing herself at him with such force she knocked him back onto his rear.

He let out a sharp cry of pain and looked down to his friend who latched herself onto his chest, burying her face into his shirt while muttering “You’re ok! Sweet mother of monkey milk you’re ok!” Not knowing what else to do, Ralph enclosed her lightly in his arms. 

In an instant, all negative feelings he had towards her dissolved into a warm, fluffy sensation as he held his friend safely in his arms. 

Felix hopped off of the kart and approached his wife as she landed a few yards away from him. He ran and jumped into her arms. She caught her husband and they embraced warmly, both ecstatic that the other was unharmed.

Ralph grabbed Vanellope and held her in the palm of his hand. They both smiled warmly at each other for a while before Ralph remembered that he needed to be upset with her at the moment. He shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows at her. 

“Vanellope, what were you thinking?” 

Her bright smile melted away as her eyes went wide and her mouth was agape. He continued anyway. “You deliberately disobeyed me and went into that room! What could you possibly be thinking?” He was met with more silence as she stared up at the sky in wonder. He stopped his angry rambling and looked over to Calhoun and Felix, who were looking up at the sky as well.

“What’re you guys all looking at?” Vanellope slowly raised her finger at the sky. He set her down and turned around to see what it was her pudgy finger was pointed.

The first thing he noticed was the view.

What was lying right before him was the most incredible view he has ever seen. A large, wide, vast expanse of land and water resting inside a canyon which he was standing on the edge on. What caught his attention most however was the fact that everything appeared to be made of cubes. The hills and trenches and crevices which composed most of the world was made up of sharp corners and four sides that were clearly cubes, much like the cubed trees in the forest. 

It didn’t take the four of them long to piece together that this entire area, if not this entire world was made up of only cubes.

Ralph gulped and found himself slowly looking up to the sky to see a square sun. Right under the sun though was an object that nearly made him double over. 

Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun slowly walked up to his side and stared at the same object. 

Hanging weightlessly in the air was a word. 

But this word was composed of the same cubes that this world was made of, but decorated and textured to look like gray rock and tough soil. The cubes were pieced together so precisely to spell out a single pixelated word.

MINECRAFT

“Uh, guys,” Vanellope spoke up. “I don’t think we’re in the arcade anymore.”


	5. Lots of Problems, but No Solutions

“Oh my land,” Felix breathed with his hand hovering over his mouth, staring mindlessly at the vast expanse of the cubed world that lies ahead of them. Calhoun stood to his right with her eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

Truly, this has to be the most beautiful place they have ever seen.

The ground stretched so far into the horizon that it probably could still continue for miles on end before the clear, blue sky met the earth below it. Ralph looked up and came to the conclusion that this world must be under what’s called ‘real time’ because the clouds above them (which too appeared to be made from some blocky material) were moving slowly, ever so slowly across the sky. While squinting, he could also see the square sun rising gracefully into the air. He looked back down and his eyes came across a mountain range that revealed itself through a thin layer of fog on the other side of the canyon they stood before.

A full copy, no, multiple copies of the Fix-It Felix Jr., Sugar Rush and Heroes Duty map more than half a dozen times over.

“Wow,” Vanellope whispered, her hands cupped over her mouth with eyes full of curiosity and wonder. “It’s . . . It’s . . . Beautiful.” 

Ralph was then shaken out of his trance and looked down to her. “Beautiful?” She too shook herself out of her daze and looked up quizzically at Ralph. “What do you mean ‘beautiful’? I mean, sure it looks nice up here, but there’s just one tiny problem.” He rubbed his chin and had an expression on his face that mimicked deep thought. “Let’s see, what was it? Hmm. Oh yeah, that’s right,” he snapped his fingers. “We have no way back!” She shrunk down and slightly cringed at her friends’ outburst. Felix and Calhoun were now looking at him confusedly.

“Look around, kid!” He raised his hands and gestured around him. “Do you see that blue, beam, thing anywhere?” She turned her head side to side. “No! You don’t! And now, we can’t get back home! And it’s all your fault!” He pointed his finger accusingly at her.

She held her hands against her chest. “Me? Well, you’re the butthead who decided to come barging into that room. No one told you to come with me! If you hadn’t followed me, I could have made it out just fine.”

“Fine? FINE?” 

“Yes ‘fine’! I would have visited one room in the in the internet and come back out just like that! But you screwed me up. And now look where we are!” 

Ralph curled his fingers tightly and grumbled incomprehensibly to himself, face glowing red as he did. “Look sister, the point is I told you to stay away from that door, but you didn’t listen! And now you-”

“Cram it! The both of you!” 

Ralph and Vanellope silenced themselves and turned to face the Sergeant who was breathing heavily through her nostrils and narrowing her eyes at the two of them. She marched by her husband and came between the two. 

“Now let me get one thing perfectly clear: as of right now, I’m not going to put up with your petty squabbles today or any time during the remainder of our ‘visit’ here! And if I hear so much as a peep out of either of you I will shove you in my rifle and blast you all the way back to Litwak’s from here! Understand!?”

They nodded furiously.

She turned to face Ralph, gripped his shirt and pulled him down to her eyelevel. “Listen here, Junk Pile, that is no way to talk to a little girl! You are her mentor, her big brother, her guardian, and I respect that about you. But if you think that I’m going to stand here for a single minute and listen to you argue with a nine-year-old, then your head must not be screwed on right. And the moment I’m done with you two, you are going to apologize to her, understood?”

He stared blankly at her. 

“Understood!?” 

His eyes widened. “Uh, yeah. Ri-right. Understood!” 

She let him go and gave him a firm nod before turning and kneeling down to Vanellope’s height.

“And as for you, Pipsqueak,” she pointed down to the girl, resting her forearm on her knee. 

“Uh, Sugar Buns, I’m not sure that-” Calhoun held up her hand to silence her husband. 

“I understand that you were given explicit instructions to not go near that door, and you broke that rule.” Vanellope lowered her head and rubbed her arm shamefully. “Look at me,” Calhoun ordered firmly yet controlled. Slowly, Vanellope shifted her sad gaze upwards. 

“You and Ralph have got a good thing goin’ here. I’d hate to see that relationship go down the toilet over something like this. And while I don’t agree with his methods of teaching you a lesson, nor do I approve of your insubordinate behavior, we need to keep our heads if we want any hope of ever returning.” Her voice was lowering and she took a calming breath. “Is that understood, soldier?” She sadly nodded. Calhoun reached under her chin and lifted her head to meet her gaze.

She gave her a small, hooked smile. “Good. Now, I want you two to shake hands and apologize.” She walked over back to her husband while Ralph and Vanellope awkwardly scratched the back of their necks. 

“Now!”

They jumped and Ralph reached his hand down and gently took Vanellope’s tiny fingers between his thumb and forefinger. After a few seconds of nervous shaking, they slowed down and looked into each other’s eyes. They let go and Ralph knelt down to her level. 

“Listen, kid, I’m-” he was cut off by her jumping on his chest and hugging tightly. He bent back in surprise before wrapping his arms around her.

“I’m sorry, Ralph.” 

He sighed. “I’m sorry too kid. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” He cupped her in his massive palms and held her out in front of him. 

“And I shouldn’t have went into that room in the first place. It really is my fault we’re stuck here.” 

He gave her a sad smile. “It’s gonna be ok, kid. I promised that I would never let anything happen to you, and I meant it. We’ll get out of here eventually.” She smiled happily at him as he set her down.

“But, we are going to have a looong talk when we get back.” 

She giggled. “Deal.” 

Ralph raised his fist. “Top shelf?” Her face lit up and she propelled her tiny body upwards, tapping her fist against Ralph’s. 

“Top shelf!”

Felix clasped both of his hands together. “Well now, that’s much better, isn’t it?” The two of them nodded. “And while I believe that Tammy could have put her little speech into, uh, nicer words, she is right. We aren’t going to get anywhere pointing fingers and playing the name game. We’ve got to keep together, stay strong, and we’ll get out of here in no time!” He swung his arm for emphasis. 

His face then grew darker.

“But, it’s only a matter of time before the players realize that we’re gone.”

Everyone’s faces fell dramatically.

“Well,” Calhoun spoke up, “Heroes Duty should hold up for a little while. My men know exactly what to do if any of our regular characters were to go AWOL. I can’t say the same for your game though,” she said sadly, gesturing to Felix.

“And it won’t take long before the players realize I’m not on the roster,” Vanellope noted. 

“Oh, Ralph,” Felix breathed. “This is horrible! Our game could be unplugged because of this!” 

“That’s not going to happen,” Ralph said confidently. “Like I said, we’ll get out of here eventually. We’ve just gotta, you know, find the exit.” 

Calhoun put her hands on her hips. “Wreck-it’s right. If we got in here, then that means that there has to be a way out as well. We just have to start looking.”

Ralph, Vanellope and Felix turned their heads side to side. 

“And where do you suggest we start looking, Captain Sweetness?” Vanellope asked. “This place is humungous!”

The Sergeant shrugged. “I don’t know kid. But you know what they say.”

They each raised their eyebrow at her.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”

Vanellope’s face lifted into a silly grin. 

“Or with a push of a button.”

Her head turned to her kart which was still parked over by the trees. Calhoun, in return, unstrapped her cruiser and dropped it to the ground as it unfurled and levitated off the ground.

“Alright, kiddies,” Calhoun said in her usual commando voice. “Let’s get this train a-movin’.” 

Meanwhile,

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“President Vanellope. It’s time for the Roster Race.” 

Sour Bill stood in front of the President’s quarters (which was really her bedroom. She preferred to have people call it that because it sounded authoritative), tapping his tiny foot as he waited for her to open up.

He tried again.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Nothing.

“Miss President? Are you in there?” He reached up and opened her door. He cracked it open and peeped inside cautiously. She always hated it when someone would come barging in her room, er, Presidential Quarters, unannounced. 

He did a quick scan of the room and could not find her anywhere. “Hmm?” He fully entered the room and walked over to her bed. He walked under it and came out the other side, not finding her under there. His brow furrowed and he walked over to her wardrobe. He opened it and saw nothing but extra copies of her usual mint green hoodie with green, swirly leggings. He closed the doors and made his way to the double doors on the other side of the room. 

He swung them open and stepped out onto the balcony which gave him the perfect vantage point of Sugar Rush, yet she wasn’t outside either.

Sour Bill widened his eyes. “Uh oh.”

At the racetrack, the candy citizens were sitting in their respective seats as the colorful racers pulled their karts to the starting line, hopped out and made their way to the winner’s circle which was just at the base of the massive popcorn stand where Vanellope would stand and address her friends and subjects before the start of every race.

Taffyta, Rancis, Candlehead and the other racers lined up and looked upwards, awaiting for their president to come bursting through the curtains on top of the popcorn box and begin the race. 

But she didn’t. 

Jubileena squinted her eyes and peered to the top of the box, trying to see if Vanellope was up there. “Um, President Vanellope? Are, are you up there?” 

No response came.

The racers turned to each other, confusion clearly visible on their faces and began silently talking with one another. 

“Vanellope? It’s time to start the race! Remember?” Crumbelina waited to hear the shrill voice of their president, but nothing came.

Taffyta grew impatient. “Vanellope, you get your buns out of that curtain right now and say something!” 

The others looked at Taffyta in complete shock. “T-Taffyta, I wouldn’t-” she ignored Adorabeezle’s warning. 

“Vanellope! Get out here, now!” 

No response.

She grumbled to herself, holding her breath as she did. Then a thoughtful look came across her face and she let out a little chuckle. She turned to her fellow racers. “Ok, I see what’s going on.” The others turned to her in anticipation. “She’s just getting back at us for making fun of her fat friend of hers.” She laughed to herself once again.

“Um, Taffyta,” Rancis began. “I thought we agreed to not make fun of Ralph anymore.” 

Taffyta turned to him. “I agreed to no such thing. That was all you guys! You’re the idiots who-” she was cut off by the sound of feedback piercing its way into each of their ears.

“Citizens of Sugar Rush.” 

They all looked up and saw Sour Bill standing above them on his usual perch on top of the popcorn box, microphone in hand. Taffyta rolled her eyes, put her hands on her hips and glared up at the tiny sour ball. “It’s about time. Where’s Vanellope?”

They all heard Sour Bill sigh into the mike and continued in his usual emotionless tone.

“I regret to inform you that Vanellope is currently absent.” 

A gasped rolled through the audience and through the racers.

Rancis’ heart sped up.

She’s, she’s gone? She’s really gone?

“What do you mean ‘absent’, tiny?” Taffyta asked him challengingly. 

“Uhh, absent as in she is nowhere to be found.” Taffyta’s lips formed a straight line before she started laughing again. “Well, if she is unable to attend this race, then, as second best racer in the game, I suppose it’s my responsibility to-”

“Wrong,” Sour Bill droned into the microphone, sending more feedback into the ears of the children. 

He reached down and lifted up a large looking book which said ‘President Rules and Stuff’ in green crayon and sloppy handwriting. He opened the book and flipped through the pages until he found the one he was looking for and stopped.

“Page seventy-three paragraph six sub section B states that, and I quote, ‘If I am ever to go missing or something like that, all Presidential duties, haha, duties, are assigned to Sour Bill until I return’.” He closed the book and put it back down and looked down to the racers.

Taffyta crossed her arms and pouted. “Fine.”

Sour bill nodded and spoke into the microphone. 

“Now, let us,” he cleared his throat, “begin the race.”


	6. How to Play

“Alright gang, where do you wanna start?” Calhoun asked, raising her arms at her sides and gesturing around her. 

Felix cleared his throat and looked around. “Well, any place is as good as any I suppose. Ralph partner, where do you think we should start?”

Ralph rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Um, let me see . . . I don’t know, I was thinking of starting down there,” he pointed down the canyon wall and to the ground which was meters below them. Everyone looked at him with expressions of confusion. He shrugged.

“I was just thinking that we’d be less out in the open, you know? I just can’t shake the feeling that we’re, I don’t know, being watched.” He looked over his shoulder and into the woods behind them. 

He looked down to Vanellope whose eyes widened in sudden fear. “Just as long we don’t go back in there again.” 

Ralph turned to see that she was pointing at the entrance of the woods. His eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “Why? What was in there?” 

She gulped. “Well, see, it happened like this . . .”

Ralph looked down worriedly at her.

“When we got out of that portal thingy, I found Felix. So I picked him up and we went off looking for you guys,” she explained. 

“Okay?” Ralph urged her to continue. 

“We heard the sound of gunshots and figured that must have been you guys.” 

Calhoun raised her hand. “Guilty.” 

Ralph glared at her, clearly not having fully forgiven her for almost killing him back there.

“Go on, kid,” Ralph said. 

Vanellope gulped again, clearly not wanting to revisit this certain subject. “Then suddenly, this weird, tall, green thing with four legs and a square head come charging for my kart! I think I heard it hiss at us.” 

Ralph dropped to one knee, looking down at his friend who currently looked as if she’s completely gone insane. It was then Ralph began to wonder if all that sugar and candy was messing with her head. She had always had an overactive imagination, but he had never seen it to this extent. 

Ralph sent her a questioning glance which Felix must have seen because he interrupted him before he could say another word. 

“Listen Ralph, I know it seems a little farfetched,” he folded his hands together, “but I was there. I saw that thing with my own eyes.” Ralph looked to his friend with concern and confusion swimming in his eyes. “All I’m saying is that we know absolutely nothing about this place or what possibly lives here. So, I agree with you. We should do our best to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible.”

Ralph nodded in agreement and looked back down to Vanellope. “Alright kid, let’s get going.” She smiled at him quickly before glitching away from him and reappearing in the driver’s seat of her kart. 

She honked twice. “Come on Ralph! Get on. Move your molasses!” He chuckled to himself and trotted over to her side.

From the corner of his eye he saw Calhoun unfurling her cruiser, the hover board floated a few feet off of the ground once it fully stretched itself out. She stepped up onto it and Felix followed, wrapping his arms around her leg to secure himself while in midflight. Ralph turned back to the kart and hopped on the back. It creaked and moaned slightly under his weight. He steadied himself on the rear and grabbed on both sides below him to secure himself.

Calhoun nodded in their direction. “We’re following you Shortstack, lead the way.” Vanellope grinned and gave her a thumbs up. She shifted the kart into reverse, twisted her body around so she could see behind through the gap between Ralph’s feet behind her. She pushed her foot on the gas and the kart responded by moving backwards so fast and unexpectedly, Ralph nearly lost his grip and fell forward.

He kept his grip however as Vanellope backed up about one hundred feet before stomping on the brakes, making Ralphs grip on the rear fender even tighter as he was whiplashed backwards. “You’ve gotta start giving me some sorta warning when you do that, kid!” He snapped. 

She looked up to him unapologetically. “Sorry, but we’re kinda in a hurry.” 

With those words of encouragement seared into Ralph’s brain, she shifted the kart into drive and brought her foot down onto the gas pedal once again, launching the kart forward and sending mounds of tiny brown cubes of dirt sprawling in the air behind them as they rapidly approached the edge of the cliff. Ralph’s face twisted from expressions which ranged to confusion and horror in a matter of seconds. 

“Um, Vanellope,” he said nervously over the roar of Vanellope’s engine. “Where exactly are you going?” 

She squinted her eyes and looked up to him. “We’re going to where you said we should go you big dummy! Down there!” She pointed forward to the cliff right before them. 

Ralph’s heart raced and his eyes grew wider than before as her kart grew closer and closer to the edge. Ralph couldn’t tell whether his body was shaking with fear or if it was vibrating due to Vanellope’s kart engine. 

He looked up and saw Calhoun and Felix soaring above his head. They rose a few feet before swooping down, plummeting downward and vanishing under the cliff in an instant.

Ralph’s heart caught in his throat as the kart grew dangerously close to the edge. Ralph instinctively raised his hands to cover his face and screamed at the top of his lungs. “Kid! What are you, AAAAHHHHHH!”

His eyes snapped shut and his hands were raised in front of him as if he were trying to push something away.

Suddenly, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing upright and he felt Goosebumps crawling along his skin.

Voop.

Still screaming and wailing uncontrollably, Ralph anticipated the kart sailing over the edge of the cliff and sending them to their graves. But it never came.

“AAAAHHHHHHHHH-hhhhhhh- aahhhh- ah?” 

His eyelids slowly parted and his screaming slowly died down. He lowered his arms back to his sides and opened his eyes fully. He was met with more ground beneath them as they quickly passed by even more cube-based trees. His chest was rising and falling visibly and his hand was raised to his heart. He shook his head and turned around to see a gigantic wall, a few hundred feet in height. Though they were driving away from the wall, he could see that it was composed of multiple cubes with a yellowish-brown rock texture to each of them. 

Even in his perplexed state, it didn’t take long for Ralph to piece together what exactly had just happened. 

They had just glitched down here.

Ralph let out a long sigh and turned to face Vanellope, who was still driving forward with a smirk on her face as if nothing had happened at all. His mouth bent into a frown and anger quickly boiled in his chest. “The heck was that all about, kid?!”

She turned around curiously and looked up at him. “What’re are you whining about now?” She asked over the sound of her kart. 

“You could have told me you were going to do that!” 

Her jaw dropped in surprise and her eyebrows fell. “Are you kidding me? You’re whining about me glitching down here? What were you expecting me to do?” 

He shook his head. “Well how was I supposed to know you were going to do that?! You scared me half to death!” She turned away from him and continued driving.

“What were you planning on doing? Climbing down that thing?”

He raised his finger and opened his mouth, ready to protest, but he found nothing to say.

Well, glitching down here was better than the alternative. . .

“Alright, you got me there. But a little warning would be really appreciated next time. I’m not as used to that glitching thing as you are, kid.” She tilted her head upwards to look at him. “Got it!” He nodded and relaxed a little.

He heard a continuous humming noise behind him. He turned to see Calhoun and Felix soaring safely on her cruiser a few yards above their heads and well behind them. Calhoun was leaning forward and the wind was brushing wildly at her bangs with Felix clutching her leg securely with a hand placed over his hat to protect it from flying off. The repairman caught his gaze and sent him a friendly wave. Ralph responded by giving him a salute.

He turned forward once again and took in a deep breath through his nose and let it out through his mouth. He twisted his head left and right slowly, taking in the massive environment around them. He noticed the sun was getting closer to the other side of the horizon. Tree after tree and strange cubed rock after strange cubed rock passed as Vanellope continued down the imaginary road they were on.

You know, Vanellope was right.

In its own, weird way, this place really is kind of beautiful.

Shooooooom

“Whoa! OW!”

A quick, warm, sharp pain shot into his forehead quicker than a hummingbird could flap its wings. Ralph touched the tender area softly with his fingertips and winced lightly. He turned around and saw a tree with particularly low branches swaying lightly as if something had passed by it quickly, or if someone had touched it in any way. It didn’t take Ralph too long to realize that Vanellope had accidentally smacked his forehead against a stray branch.

He was about to protest to her, but something else caught his attention. 

He furrowed his eyebrows as he noticed the wind seemed to have picked up. It was howling past his ears and violently ruffling his hair. Everything at their sides zoomed by in a heartbeat.

ZOOM

WHIZ

ZOOM

Vanellope eased her foot off of the gas and went for the clutch while grasping the lollipop joystick in a quick attempt to switch gears, but it didn’t work.

She pulled back on the stick but it wouldn’t budge. She looked down at it worriedly and grasped it with both hands trying to pull it loose. With her hands off of the steering wheel, the kart veered to the left and nicked the corner of a cube which was at the base of a hill. She yelped in fright and Ralph tightened his grip on the fender.

She let go of the joystick and placed both hands back on the pretzel steering wheel, slightly regaining control. Her eyes went wide with fear as her kart went faster and faster. 

“Uh, Ralph?” Her voice was lost in the wind and he never responded. 

Instead, he shouted, “Hey kid! You mind slowing this thing down a little?” 

She brought her hand back down to the joystick and tugged repeatedly getting no result. She took her foot off of the accelerator and slammed down on the brakes. The brake pedal offered no resistance as her foot effortlessly pushed past it and slammed it on the floor.

The kart went faster.

With her hands on the steering wheel and eyes bugging out of her tiny head, she yelled, “That’s the thing Ralph! I can’t!”

He jerked his head downward and stared at her worriedly. “Wha-what? You, you mean you, whaddya mean you can’t?” He did his best raising his voice over the roar of her kart. 

“I mean I can’t! I don’t have any control!” 

On the cruiser, Calhoun and Felix watched curiously as Ralph and Vanellope sped up, getting farther and farther away from them by the second.

“Jiminy Jaminy,” Felix said. “They’re going awfully fast.” 

Calhoun grunted and squinted her eyes as to get a better image of the two of them. She barely made out the tiny hand of Vanellope grasping tightly to the joystick, but it appeared to be jammed. They watched as they went careening past every tree and pixelated plant at breathtaking speeds. 

Calhoun came to a quick conclusion.

“They’ve lost control of the kart.” 

Felix lightly gasped and looked up to his wife with wide eyes. “How do you know?” 

She looked down to him. “Trust me. I know.” She adjusted her foot on the cruiser’s accelerator and raced after them.

Vanellope continued stomping on the brakes to no avail, it just kept falling beneath her foot having no effect on the kart whatsoever. She was helplessly gasping and jerking the steering wheel left and right to avoid the obstacles in their path. She looked back at Ralph who had his hands over his face as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

“RALPH!” He lowered his hands and saw Vanellope looking up at him. “Quit acting like a big diaper baby and help me!” He looked left and right, frantically trying to find some way he could help. He looked at his hands worriedly as he came up with a desperate idea.

Ralph smashed his hands downwards on both sides of the kart. He felt a massive tug on his arms as his fists came into contact with the ground, immediately sending tiny cubed mounds of dirt and grass flailing upwards and splashing his face. Vanellope shrieked as the kart fought against Ralph’s grip on the ground.

Ralph grunted and panted while trying to keep his grip on the ground, attempting to slow the kart. His massive hands leaving a trail of dirt in the grass.

“HHHHHNNNNGGGGGGGGGGG, AAAH!” 

His hands hit something hard, really hard, weakening his grip and sending his hands back up. He rubbed his wrist tenderly and winced. He looked down at Vanellope. “It’s no use kid! The kart’s too fast!” 

Vanellope didn’t look back at him. “We’re toast!”

“Wreck-It! Pipsqueak!”

Both of their eyes shot open as a faint but clear voice broke through the sound of Vanellope’s engine. They looked back and saw Calhoun and Felix still on the cruiser and racing to catch up with them. Vanellope waved her arms. “Help! We don’t have any control!” 

Calhoun shook the bangs from her eyes so she could see more clearly. “I know! Steady yourself out! I’m sending Felix down!” Felix widened his eyes and his breath caught in his throat.

“What?!”

She looked down to her husband. “You’re the only one of us who can actually repair that candy-coated runaway. The only shot we have is for you to put on your big boy pants, adjust your thinking-cap, and go fix that sucker! That’s an order!” The look on Felix’s face was a mixture of shock and awe. Then it melted into a warm smile.

“Golly. You send the honeyglows a-running to the cheeks when you-“

“No time for that now! We’ve got a kart to stop!” 

He straightened his cap, put on a face of pure determination and nodded firmly. Calhoun nodded back and adjusted her foot on the accelerator. Felix kept his grip on her leg as the cruiser gave one last boost of speed, sending them rocketing toward Ralph and Vanellope, slowly but surely gaining on them.

Ralph was waving them closer to the kart. “Closer! Closer!” 

Calhoun looked down at him. “I know! I’m coming!” 

Vanellope continued twisting the steering wheel, avoiding every cube she could see while occasionally nicking one and lifting the kart on two wheels before violently crashing back down to the ground sending Ralph’s arms wailing above his head uncontrollably. 

Calhoun inched the cruiser lower and closer to the kart. Ralph took notice to this and outstretched his hand. “Jump Felix! I got you!” Felix took out his hammer and loosened his grip on Calhoun’s leg, taking deep breaths and bending his knees, preparing to jump.

“On three!” Ralph called out with his hand still reaching up to him. “One. . .” Felix gulped. “T-two. . .” Ralph nodded encouragingly. Before he could finally give the signal for Felix to jump, Vanellope’s shrill voice cut through the wind. “Ralph! Hold on!” Ralph retracted his hand and grasped the fender again.

“What? Why, AAAHHHH!” 

Vanellope swerved the kart to the left to avoid another tree, nearly throwing Ralph clean off the kart and into the tree. She cleared it successfully but was then met with another tree that she avoided. After that, it was simply one tree after another. “What?! We’re in another forest?! How many trees can this place have?!” Vanellope yelled. 

To keep the cruiser safely airborne, Calhoun pitched upward and above the continuous line of leaves that stretched on for yards. “Gah! Another forest. I can’t lower this thing while they’re in there. We’ve gotta wait ‘till they come out the other end.” Felix grimly nodded and held on as they flew over the seemingly endless line of trees.

“Right! Left! Left! Right! No the other right!” Ralph was now in a state of panic, yelling directions to Vanellope by the second. 

“Ralph, shut up! I’m the one driving!” Ralph gulped and closed his eyes. Vanellope blew her bangs out of her eyes and stared dead ahead, not allowing anything else to distract her. 

Alright Vanellope, you can do this. You can do this.

Left.

Right.

Right.

She lightly turned the steering wheel this way and that, making sure she gave enough space between her and the next set of trees, but also not too hard so that she would end up capsizing the kart and injuring them, or worse.

Left, right, Vanellope’s stomach began to turn lightly. 

Ralph peeped one eye open and pointed forward. “Look out for that. . . Thing!”

“Wha? AAAHHH!” 

Vanellope instinctively slammed the brake pedal when she saw a large, green, stick figure walking in her path, even though she knew that it wouldn’t solve a thing at the moment. 

While driving straight for the green . . . thing, she was able to get a better look at it. It had four, short, stubby legs connected to a square base which led to a long green stick which rose about four and a half feet with a green cube resting on top. Vanellope noticed that as the creature walked, the four legs were swinging forward and backwards, but they didn’t seem to make any physical contact on the ground. It was almost as if it were gliding or even sliding rather than walking normally.

Vanellope shrieked again as the kart drew closer and closer to the creature.

THUD

The hood of the kart hit it dead on, sweeping its weird stubby feet from under it and sending it falling on the hood face first. Ralph and Vanellope gasped in unison. These next few seconds seemed to have slowed down for Vanellope. She no longer heard the wind rushing past her ears or felt her hair zipping by her face, she was only focused on this strange creature. Her heart sank as she saw the cubed head start to crane upwards and it looked her in the eye.

It was the scariest thing she has ever seen.

Its eyes were nothing but pixelated black spots which formed a rectangle on both sides of the face. Below the faded, black rectangles were more black spots which spread horizontally across and hooked down on both sides, creating a permanent frown. Vanellope had never seen anything so horrifying in her young little life. 

Her mind reeled back to her very first race: King Candy rammed into her kart and was threatening to flatten her. She remembered his horribly distorted and pixelated face as his true form was revealing itself. A wide, yellow toothed, grin with wide, murderous eyes and a thirst for blood. She took another look down at the horrifying creature and screamed.

The creature’s face was unfazed. Its entire body began losing its green tone and was replaced with a faint red color. A hissing noise emanated from it and its green color returned only to be replaced by red once again. Its body continued blinking red and hissing.

Ralph returned from his shocked stated and glared down at the strange being riding on the hood of the kart.

“Get off!”

He swatted the thing in the face with the back of his hand and it was sent sailing off the side of the hood, landing on its side and rolling alongside them.

Then something happened neither of them saw coming.

BOOOOOOM

The green monster disappeared in a large cloud of smoke and a loud noise penetrated their eardrums. The kart flew forward a few yards before landing on all four wheels shakily. Ralph looked back and saw where the explosion had occurred was a large crater which went deep into the earth, multiple squares and corners bordering the rim of the hole at the top. A few trees close to it began leaning and fell headlong into the hole.

Ralph stared in awe at the crater, but he was snapped back into reality when he heard Vanellope’s voice cutting through the wind once again.

“I can see the end!” He turned and looked to where she was pointing and saw the final row of trees.

They past the final tree and rocketed out into the open field. Both of their eyes darted back and forth, making sure there was nothing else there was nothing left around them to get lost into. She let out a tiny sigh and relaxed a little in her seat. But her worry came back once a rattling noise finally made its way to her ears.

She looked to the back left side of the kart and her heart sank even further. Her left, rear cookie wheel was severely cracked and the gummy worm tires were loose. Above that, the cookie frame of the kart was weakened and tiny candy bits of debris were falling off. At this speed and with damage like that, the kart had a matter of seconds before it fell apart from under them.

The explosion from the green thing must have severely damaged the kart when it exploded. She gulped and tightened her grip on the pretzel steering wheel. 

“Look!” Ralph pointed behind them and Vanellope followed his gaze. A small flicker of hope ignited inside of her as her eyes came upon Calhoun and Felix still on the cruiser and flying after them. 

Ralph waved his hands over his head again. “Faster! Faster! Hurry!” 

Calhoun looked down to Ralph with annoyance. “Shut it Junkpile! I know!” Ralph brought his hands down to his sides again. 

Calhoun banked to the right so she was now flying side by side with the kart. Vanellope motioned them to come in closer to the kart. “Closer! Just a little closer!” 

Calhoun bit her lip and lightly leaned lightly to the left, inching the cruiser to them. “It’s good! Alright Honey, go for it!” Felix immediately let go of his wife, looked directly to the hood of the kart, and jumped.

He landed on his belly on the hood, sending his hands and feet sprawling in all directions to find purchase. He wrapped his fingers under the hood and shut his eyes and clenched his teeth in fear. “Felix! Felix! Can you hear me? This is a bad time to take a nap here, pal!” He ignored Vanellope’s comment and continued holding on for dear life. 

“Oh for the love of,” Ralph muttered under his breath. He leaned cautiously forward and lifted Felix off of the hood with his thumb and forefinger by the back of his uniform. He lifted his friend to his eye level. “Felix! We really need you to focus right now! Ok?” 

Felix lightly opened his eyes and gave him a shy nod. Ralph returned it.

“Alright, we need you to fix the side of the kart. I’ll lower you down.” Felix gulped before nodding nervously. Ralph cupped his hand and Felix positioned himself into a sitting position in his palm. Ralph lowered his massive hand to the damaged side, careful as to not graze his knuckles on the fast moving ground. Felix took out his golden hammer, positioned it over the damaged section, and gave it a light tap.

Bling

A small golden light flashed and the cracks and rattling noise disappeared.

Vanellope, having heard the tone of Felix’s hammer performing one of its miraculous repairs, instantly stomped her foot on the brake pedal. The kart obeyed and skidded to a halt. Ralph, having loosened his grip on the fender while lowering Felix down, was shot over Vanellope’s head with Felix still in his hand. With the two of them screaming at the top of their lungs, Ralph tucked Felix safely under his arms and close to his chest before his back made contact with the grass.

Ralph’s body curled into a ball as the momentum carried him forward, sending him head over heels with Felix still clutched tightly to his chest.

Ralph’s body finally slid to a stop and he lied on his back on the grass below them with Felix hugging his friends’ chest tightly. Ralph kept his eyes closed and clenched his teeth so his face was stuck in a wincing action. 

Vanellope darted out of her kart and ran up to their sides. Calhoun came to their position and lowered the cruiser. She hopped off and came up next to Vanellope.

“Ralph! Stinkbrain! Can you hear me?!”

“Felix! Honey, are you ok?” 

Both of their eyes shot open and Ralph rose to a sitting position, sending Felix falling off of his chest and onto the ground. He patted himself down all over, making sure none of him was missing or hurt. He sighed when he found everything still intact. Felix stood up and did the same.

Ralph looked down to his friend with a concerned frown on his face. “Sorry about that, Felix. You aren’t hurt, are you?” 

Felix dusted himself off and faced Ralph with a kind smile. “No need to worry, Ralph. I’m perfectly fine. You don’t have any bruises that need a fixing, do you?” He asked, holding up his hammer.

“Um.” Ralph raised his arms and double checked to make sure he was unharmed. “Nope. I’m good.” Felix nodded and returned his hammer to his tool belt. Calhoun then pounced over to her husband, scooped him in her arms and hugged him closely to her chest. Vanellope too sprang over to the two of them and jumped into Ralph’s chest, digging her tiny fingers into the fabric of his shirt.

Ralph lightly laughed and set her down. “It’s ok kid. I’m fine.”

Calhoun set down her husband and cleared her throat. “Alright, now that you two are ok, we need to figure out what the bits happened to your car.” 

Vanellope looked to the sergeant. “I have no idea! I was just driving and suddenly, everything stopped working! Then that monster came out of nowhere and nearly blew us into a billion pieces!” She threw her hands in the air to emphasize her point. 

She turned to look at Ralph. “I told you it was real! But you didn’t believe me or Felix! Shows what you know! Point for Vanellope!” 

Ralph shook his head and rolled his eyes at the dancing child. “It’s not that I didn’t believe you, it’s just that-”

“Hey Ralph, look over there,” Felix interrupted, pointing to the side. Ralph followed his finger and his eyes landed on a little wooden object.

It was a sign.

Just a random, wooden picket sign jutting itself out from the earth in the middle of nowhere. Everyone’s eyes squinted in confusion at it. “That’s certainly odd.” Felix was the first to walk over towards it. “Why in the world would someone put a picket sign where no one would even be able to find it?” The others followed him as he walked up to it. 

He finally reached it and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Whatsit say? Whatsit say?” Vanellope was jumping to see over Felix’s shoulder. 

“It, it doesn’t say anything.”

“What?” He turned so the others could see it. Indeed, nothing was written on it. It was just a blank piece of wood.

“How odd. Why would somebody . . .” He trailed off. Calhoun stepped forward. 

“Maybe it’s supposed to mean something? Try looking around it.” 

Felix loosened his collar. “I don’t know, Tammy.” He grabbed the outer edge of the sign and swiveled his neck around to see if anything was on the other side. “I mean, I don’t see-“

Bing Bing

Felix jumped back in shock as the sign blinked twice. Then, for no evident reason, a large white square materialized itself above the sign with black text inside. Felix gulped and read it aloud.

“Welcome. And thank you for joining the fantastic world of Minecraft, Litwakrouter950501.”

“Minecraft? Hey! That’s the word we saw floating in the sky a little bit ago!” Vanellope deducted. “And Litwakrouter950501 was that weird word inside the Wi-Fi room when I busted in. So, why did it call us that?” 

Felix looked back down to her. “Hold on, Vanellope. Let’s read this first then ask questions later.” He turned back to the side and continued reading.

“Minecraft is a game about breaking and placing blocks. At first, people built structures to protect against nocturnal monsters, but as the game grew players worked together to create wonderful, imaginative things. It can also be about adventuring with friends or watching the sun rise over a blocky ocean. It’s pretty. Brave players battle terrible things in The Nether, which is more scary than pretty. You can also visit a land of mushrooms if it sounds more like your cup of tea.” 

He paused. “So, this place, this entire world, is a game?” Ralph asked, spinning a full three hundred and sixty degrees. “That’s impossible! There’s nothing I know of that could store this much data and code into a single game!” 

Felix turned to his friend. “Well, it’s like you said earlier Ralph. The internet is a big place. This must be some sort of online game.”

Vanellope raised an eyebrow. “Online game? You mean there are others games out there besides the cabinets we have back home?”

Felix nodded. “Many more, Vanellope. When we hopped into that portal, it somehow sent us to this game directly. You see, in online games, they require a username. Because we didn’t provide ourselves with one, it gave us a default username. It just used our original home. Litwakrouter950501.”

Vanellope nodded, still not fully understanding what exactly was going on. “And that sign also said that players could play with friends,” Ralph added. “So, does that mean, you know, there are others in this world with us? What if they see us?” 

Felix sighed and lowered his head. “I don’t know what to tell you brother.”

Calhoun pointed to the sign. “Wait, there’s more.”

Felix turned and read where his wife was pointing. He murmured under his breath as he read.

“It says here that we’re in what’s called ‘The Tutorial Mode’. So, we aren’t technically in the real game.” He continued reading. “Wait, what in the world is this?” 

A small, blinking square rested in the bottom right corner of the text box that said ‘Press Here for Extra Help’. Vanellope looked over his shoulder and her eyes widened again. “We need extra help! Push it! Push it!” 

Ralph put a hand on her head to settle her down. “Just relax kid. Felix, go ahead.” Felix nodded up to his friend and tapped the blinking button.

Immediately, the text box furled itself up into a scroll and shrank to a size to fit in Felix’s hand. He took it and unfurled it.

“Oh my land. It’s, it’s a guide!” 

Everyone’s heart skipped a beat and their faces lit up. “You mean, it shows us how to get out of this code forsaken jungle?” Calhoun asked hopefully. 

“Well, not exactly. It just tells me, well, take a look for yourselves.”

He angled it so they could get a better look at it. 

It displayed multiple rows of multicolored cubes and different creatures with a description for each. Everyone’s hopes deflated in an instant.

“Well, that’s all fine and dandy,” Calhoun quipped. “But we’re still no closer to getting out of here!” Felix looked up to his wife and gave her a warm smile. “Don’t fret dear. We’ve at least got something to help us along the way, now,” he said, furling the scroll back up and sliding it into an empty space in his tool belt.

“Well,” Ralph said, rubbing his massive hands together, “I guess it’s better than nothing.” 

Felix beamed at him. “That’s the spirit, brother! Now, let’s get started . . .”


	7. Gone Again

QUARTER ALERT! QUARTER ALERT!

The tiny residents of the Fix-It Felix Jr. penthouse hopped and jogged hurriedly off screen and to their starting positions. “Alright,” Gene huffed. “Is everyone here?” He scanned the small crowd of NPC’s. 

“Don?” The wealthy man with silver hair and a sailor’s uniform, complete with jacket and white cap raised his hand.

Gene nodded. “Mary?” A tiny gloved hand came into view. “Here,” her cheerful voice spoke up. 

“Ok, Deanna?” Another hand shot up. “Present!” 

“Norwood?” A balding man with a black suit walked up beside Gene. “I’m here too.”

Gene nodded again in confirmation. “Great.” He rubbed his hands together. “Now, we should- wait, where’s Ralph?” The NPC’s gasped and looked around in a worried frenzy. Gene rubbed his temples. “Oh, not this again. Ralph!” He called out in a firm whisper so the player couldn’t hear. “Quarter Alert! Get your gargantuan fists over here this instant!” 

He was met with no reply.

He threw his hands in the air in exasperation. “Gah! Fine. We’ll start the cut scene without him.”

The screen overhead blinked to life and revealed the player. “Alright everybody,” Gene said. “Let’s go.”

The 8-bit music sang its cheerful tune as the NPC’s hopped through the front doors of the penthouse. The player smiled and hovered his hand over the joystick. The screen cut to the lower left corner of the building where the large wrecking guy would begin destroying the building, but he didn’t come.

A text box appeared out of thin air with the games’ villain’s catchphrase written inside it: “I’m Gonna Wreck It!” with no one under it. The player blinked a few times and looked closely at the screen. 

“What the? Where’s the big dude?” 

Mary, Don and Gene opened their windows and looked down at the text box where Ralph should be standing. “Oh bits,” Gene cursed. “Not this again.” He saw the worried looks of Don and Mary next to him. “Don’t panic. Stick with the program like last time,” he said, trying to be as soothing as possible. They both nodded and looked straight at the screen, shouting “Fix It Felix!” as loud as they could.

On cue, a more upbeat, heroic tune began playing and the screen cut to the lower right hand side of the penthouse where Felix makes his grand entrance.

The colorful text floated in the air spelling out “I Can Fix It!”, but no one appeared under there either.

The player blinked in surprised and tapped the screen.

Gene, Don and Mary gasped in absolute horror as they looked down at where their hero should be revealing himself. More and more windows opened on multiple different levels in the penthouse, all eyes diverted to both empty spaces.

The player jumped back in alarm as each resident of the towering penthouse flew into a state of panic. His confusion grew even more as each of the pint sized beings opened the side windows, crawled down the fire escape, and running aimlessly in the front yard, bouncing and shouting with pixelated frowns plastered on each of their faces.

While six or seven of them were running around on the ground level, several of them were opening and closing windows, popping their faces out only to scream and close them again. The process continued multiple times with no sign of slowing down.

The player, now growing impatient, bumped the side of the cabinet multiple times before kicking the base of it hard enough to send a flurry of 1’s and 0’s scrawling all over the screen. “Come on you stupid overgrown Gameboy.” 

His actions did not go unnoticed by the arcade’s owner Mr. Litwak, who was idly swaying on the balls of his feet with his hands on his feet while whistling a tune watching all the customers play their games. He blinked and turned toward the Fix-It Felix Jr. cabinet.

“Whoa whoa there, son!” He held out his hands and quickly made his way over toward the boy. He approached him and placed his hands on his shoulders. “Slow down there, chief!” He said soothingly. The boy stopped and turned to Litwak. 

“Now, what seems to be the trouble, Old Sport?” The boy gestured to the game screen. “It’s acting all weird. Those tiny guys just started screaming and jumping around. They don’t usually do that, do they?”

“Hm.” Litwak curled his gray mustache with his thumb and forefinger and leaned into the screen, getting a better look at it. Just as the boy said, the NPC’s were hopping and running and jumping around like nobody’s business. This same thing has happened once before not too long ago, Litwak thought to himself.

“Oh my, looks like the games’ messed itself.” He gave a small chuckle. “Reminds me of my Nana.” The boy looked up to Litwak and he returned his gaze. “Sorry pal. Here’s your quarter back.” He clicked his coin dispenser and a quarter fell into his palm which he handed to the boy. “Sorry to say this champ, but it’s gettin’ to be closing time. Why don’t you just head on home then come back and try again tomorrow?” 

The boy sighed and hung his head. “Alright.” He received a few pats on the back from Litwak as he began trekking to the exit. “Good lad.” He placed his hands on his hips, turned to the dysfunctional game cabinet and sighed. He placed a hand on the control pad. “Oh old buddy, what are we going to do with you?” He shook his head and walked to his office. “Welp, no need to let others waste a perfectly good quarter over this nonsense.”

In Fix-It Felix Jr., the inhabitants are showing no sign of calming down. The majority of them have made their way to the front lawn with the others to panic. They held their tiny hands out in front of them and were running back and forth, screaming bloody murder as they did. 

Gene pushed the front door open and stood on the front step, trying to get the attention of his citizens. He waved his hands and raised his voice. “Alright everyone, calm down. There’s no need to panic, now would you all just,” they were paying no mind to him as they continued their panicking session. Gene narrowed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

“For the last time, SHUT UP!”

For what seemed like a millisecond, the Nicelanders froze in place and peered up to their mayor. He adjusted the collar of his suit and cleared his throat. “Thank you. Now, there is absolutely no need to-“

“Look!” Gene sighed as Lucy drew everyone’s attention away from him and to the screen to see Litwak approaching them with a familiar strip of orange paper.

“Oh sweet mercy, no!”

“No, not this again!”

The Nicelanders murmured to themselves worriedly once more as Litwak placed the orange sheet over the screen with an image of a game cabinet with a thermometer in its mouth printed on it, creating a warm orange shadow looming over them. They all gaped at it in horror and shock.

For what seemed like a lifetime but was only in fact a few dozen seconds, no one even breathed a single word. All eyes were brought to the orange slip that hovered tauntingly in the air right above them. 

“We-we’re out of order? Again?!” 

After a few more wordless moments, everyone burst into tears. Gene, still standing above them on the top step, glanced down at all of them. He shook his head and raised his voice once again. “Would you give it a rest already?” They held in their tears as best as they could, but nothing seemed to stop their chests from heaving and their shoulders shaking as they each took in sporadic breaths. 

“We are all adults here,” Gene continued. “Crying and panicking like a child isn’t going to solve anything.” They all looked up to their mayor. “So, what are we going to do? Both Felix and Ralph are gone now!”

“I’ll tell you what we’re not going to do: we’re not going to panic, we’re not going to cry, and we most certainly aren’t going to sit around and do nothing,” he said pacing to and fro and motioning in 8-bit fashion with his hands.

“What are you suggesting?” The other Nicelanders agreed with Don’s question.

Gene looked to the worried crowd. “We are leaving our game.”

Everyone gasped. All hats and hairpieces floated above their heads and glasses rattled from side to side on their faces with their hands to their mouths and eyes wide.

“You, you don’t mean we’re . . . going Turbo, do you?” This question received another startled gasp. “Absolutely not!” Gene waved his hands horizontally in front of with a stern expression on his face. “We are setting up a search party. We are going to find Felix and Ralph and bring them back before the arcade opens tomorrow.”

He scanned the crowd of worried NPC’s. “Norwood, you’re in charge of the penthouse until we return. Make sure no one wrecks the place while we’re gone. That’s Ralph’s job.” Norwood jumped and pointed to himself. “Me? Wait, where are you going?” Gene pointed to three other Nicelanders. “Don, Mary, Deanna and I are setting out tonight. We’re bringing them back.” 

“Well, pardon me for being the Negative Nelly here,” Deanna spoke up. “But the arcade isn’t a small place. Where are we supposed to start looking?” Gene rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Well, let’s think of this logically.” He walked down the steps and walked to the crowd who parted like the Red Sea to let him through. 

“We know that as of late, where ever Ralph goes, Felix is sure to follow. So, I’m pretty sure that Ralph is the cause of this . . . As usual. So if we know this, Felix must have been, or still is with Ralph. And where is it that Ralph always goes after hours besides Tappers?”

The answer immediately popped into everyone’s heads. Lucy approached him and said, “Oh, he always goes to that sweet little girls’ game. Good golly, do they not make just the cutest pair you’ve ever seen?” 

Everyone nodded and began agreeing on how they were indeed ‘The Cutest Pair You’ve Ever Seen’.

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Gene waved them off. “So, it stands to reason that that game is a good place to start. Don, Mary, Deanna, you ready?” The three Nicelanders in question stepped up and nodded. Gene returned it.

“Alright, let’s get started.”

Later,

Gene, Don, Mary and Deanna hopped off the monorail which lead to the entrance of Game Central Station. They walked through the arch and entered the massive station, humming and whistling as they went. 

Mary was at the tail end of the line they made as they strolled by character after character making their way to the sugar coated game when something barely entered her field of vision. She turned and squinted her eyelids to see a large crowd gathering around something that she could not see due to the large gathering of characters.

She turned to the others and spoke up. “Hey fellas.” The three of them turned to face her. “What do you suppose is going on over there?” Gene didn’t so much as give it a second glance as he waved her off. “We have no time for this, Mary. Now come on, we’ve got a hero and Ralph to find.” They took notice in how he spat out the word Ralph as if the word itself was poisonous. 

“Let’s go, the entrance to Sugar Rush is just up ahead.”

Meanwhile,

CHEWS YOUR RACER!

The overly joyful announcer’s voice blared as a row of nine colorful children stood frozen in place in front of their respective go karts.

The little girl sat excitedly in the driver’s seat, grasping the steering wheel tightly with both hands and scooting forward in order to reach the gas pedal.

“Alright sweetie,” her mom said standing behind the seat. “We have time for one race, but then we have to go.” The little girl looked up to her mom. “Ok mommy.”

She turned the steering wheel and each racer on screen glowed as she passed by each of them. “What the?” Her mom looked down to her. “Something wrong, Hun?” The girl leaned in closer to the screen. “Where’s, the green girl?”

Mom looked at the screen questioningly. She pointed to Minty Zaki. “Isn’t that her? The one with the bow in her hair?” The girl shook her head. “No. Not that one. The girl with a green sweatshirt. She can disappear and then come back in a different spot whenever I push this button,” she pointed to the teal pad on the steering wheel which represented a horn.

“Well,” Mom started. “Why not pick the pink one?” She shook her head again. “The one I want wasn’t on the list yesterday either. I thought she’d be back by now.” Mom made a tsk sound and shook her head. “Well, why not try a new racer?” 

The girl sighed and looked to the screen. “No, it’s ok.” She pushed the orange coin slot and a dull plink was heard. She reached down and retrieved her quarter.

“Let’s go home, mommy.” Mom rubbed her hair and guided her to the door as Litwak was giving the five minute warning bell. The gamers finished their games and exited the arcade with Litwak following them.

In Sugar Rush, Taffyta looked around and huffed in frustration. “Did you see that?! That kid had the perfect opportunity to pick me, and she just takes her quarter back! Can you believe it?!” The other racers simply looked at her in annoyed expressions. “Taffyta,” Adorabeezle started, “I think we have bigger problems to be dealing with here.”

Taffyta looked to the bomb pop themed racer. “Oh? What’s bigger than being played five times today?” Adorabeezle lowered her eyebrows and her jaw dropped a little. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that our leader is missing?” Taffyta dismissed her concern. “That’s no excuse!”

The other racers, having overheard the sound of Taffyta spazzing at a fellow racer turned their attention to them. 

“Oh what are you complaining about now?” Jubileena placed her hands on her hips and stared at Taffyta. “Oh don’t you start with me. Don’t pretend you’re not at all upset about not being picked today!”

Jubileena stared disbelievingly at Taffyta. “Actually, not really.” Taffyta rolled her eyes and turned away from her. “In the long run, it doesn’t really matter who gets picked the most, does it? Just as long as we’re played, I think that,”

“Oh, you’re so naïve, Jubi. Of course it matters!” Before Jubileena could speak again, Swizzle spoke up. “Quit getting your Twizzlers in a bunch. You’re just upset that you weren’t picked.”

“Of course I am! I mean, didn’t you see that? She had the perfect chance to choose me and she didn’t! And whose fault is it?” The racers turned to each other. “Vanellope! It’s her fault!”

The others sighed. “Here we go again.” She turned. “It’s true!”

“Taffyta, we don’t have time for your petty competitive attitude right now.” Minty stepped forward. “But Gloyd,” the candy corn themed racer turned to Minty, “You were right. It happened again. At this rate, if Vanellope doesn’t come back, we’ll be lucky to be played half a dozen times tomorrow.” 

“And why do you care if that little attention hog comes back?” Taffyta scoffed. “When she gets back, they’ll just come by and play as her all the fudging time!”

“So?”

She turned her attention to Candlehead. “What did you say?” The green haired girl shrugged. “Well, what difference what it makes if she does get chosen more than us? I mean, it doesn’t matter as long as the game gets played, right?”

The others stared at her in shock. “Candlehead,” Crumbelina said, “for once, you are absolutely right.”

“What?!” Crumbelina looked back to Taffyta. “She’s right. The point of being an arcade game is being played. Not who gets picked the most.”

The others nodded and smiled. “And without Vanellope on the roster,” Snowanna said, “our popularity is dropping like it’s hot.”  
“Excuse us?” They silenced themselves and looked to the space between the grandstands where four small, neatly dressed people emerged, walking briskly to their sides.

“And, who are all of you?” Taffyta asked impatiently. The man with black hair and a mustache cleared his throat. “Pardon us, but we represent the game Fix-It Felix Jr. We are,”

“Fix-It Felix Jr.?” Rancis spoke up. He approached the small beings. “Isn’t that the game where that big guy who hangs out with Vanellope comes from?” A man who appeared to be a sailor nodded. “That’s the one! And I’m afraid we’ve run into a problem that maybe you children could help us with.”

“Thank you, Don. I’ll take it from here.” The mustachioed man cleared his throat and leaned on the balls of his feet. “Now, allow me to introduce ourselves. I am Gene, mayor of Niceland. These are my,”” Yeah yeah, what do you want?” 

Gene looked up at the girl dressed in bright pink. “Well, our good guy, Felix and Ralph have gone missing.” Rancis gasped. 

They are gone too?

“Because of the relationship Ralph has with that little girl here, we thought to look here. Have you seen them around?”

Rancis looked back to his worried friends, then he turned back to Gene. “Well, the truth is . . . Vanellope is gone too. We can’t find her anywhere.”

“Wait wait wait,” Gene raised his hand. “You’re telling me that you haven’t seen them today either?” The peanut butter boy shook his head, his blond bangs shaking side to side.

“This is worse than we thought,” Gene thought out loud. “If Felix and Ralph aren’t here either, then what on earth are we going to do?” Gene turned to Deanna. Before he could say anything, Rancis spoke again.

“We’re going to look for them.”

The Nicelanders turned to him as did his fellow racers. “I’m not saying they’re not here. Sugar Rush is a big place after all. We’ll look for them. Together.”

Gene shook his head. “Absolutely not. I am not working with a bunch of kids. I don’t care how desperate we are.”

“Listen Shorty.” Gene narrowed his eyes at the sudden nickname. “As far as I can tell, your game is in bigger danger of being unplugged than ours. I can’t guarantee that they’re here, but I can give you my help. If we search together, then we have a better chance of finding them. Either you accept our help, or you can go look elsewhere.”

Everyone’s eyes went wide. No one had ever seen Rancis take on the leadership role like that. In fact, no one had really tried to. They just assumed that was Taffyta’s job.

Gene grumbled and threw his hands in the air in surrender. “Gah! Fine! You can help us look.”

Rancis nodded. “Thank you. Now,” he turned back to the others. “Taffyta, Candlehead, Gloyd, you’re with us, we’ll search the south side of the map. Swizzle, Minty, Jubi, you search the east side. Adorabeezle, Snowanna, Torvald, the north. Citrusella, Nougestia, Sticky, you take the castle. Everyone got it?”

No one said a word.

“Got it?!”

They jumped. “Uh, yeah. We’ve got it.”

He nodded. “Alright. Let’s go find them!”


	8. Skeletons, Zombies and Creepers, Oh My!

“Let’s see, uh, granite, diamonds, wood . . .” 

“Anything useful?” Ralph asked. 

Felix shrugged. “None that I can see.”

The group let out a discouraged groan. “Oh come on! You’ve been looking for hours! Isn’t there anything in that used tootsie roll wrapper that would help us get out of here?” Vanellope was at Felix’s side and tugging on his jeans wildly and shaking her head.

Felix sighed and lowered the scroll. “I . . . I don’t think so. But hey, let’s not give up hope fellas. This is more helpful that just sitting around and waiting for something to happen, isn’t it?” He rubbed her head gently. She didn’t respond.

“Let’s just keep looking.”

For the past hour, Felix had been searching and scanning that scroll for anything that would be at all useful in figuring out where the exit of this strange game.

But to his and the rest of the group’s dismay, he found nothing.

Although, as frustrated and discouraged as he was, he had to give the game some credit. This place has some of the most innovative and strangest technologies.

He really had to give it some credit.

This scroll for example wasn’t any sort of paper Felix had ever seen. It was an interactive parchment. 

On the paper was a list that displayed multiple rows of cubes and items with a description for each. But Felix discovered that with a single swipe of his finger, the rows scrolled upward, revealing more and more rows with a different variety of cubes.

It had to be the most amazing piece of technology he had ever held in his own two hands.

The cubes were fascinating too.

These cubes had a massively large variety of colors, designs and textures. 

Grainy, rocky, chunky, black, green, tan, brown, leafy, wet, dry, hot, cool, dark, and every other adjective Felix could think of. 

How anyone could be crazy enough to program a game of this magnitude was mindboggling.

After more and more finger swiping, Felix rolled up the touch-scroll and placed it back in his tool belt. 

“I’m sorry guys. I couldn’t find anything.” Calhoun strode up beside him and scooped him in her arms and held him tight. 

“Now enough of that negativity soldier. It’s like you said, we’ll get out of here sooner or later.” Felix wrapped his arms around her neck and the two lightly embraced, much to the chagrin of Vanellope who made gagging motions toward Ralph who only shook his head and chuckled.

“Wow, Captain Cranky,” Ralph said to Calhoun. “I never knew you had a soft spot, even after you got married.” 

With one arm wrapped around her husband, she pulled out her pistol from its holster and pointed it at Ralph. His eyes went wide and his mouth made a perfectly straight line.

“Shutting up.”

She holstered her gun and returned her attention to her husband. They finally parted and stared deeply at each other. Vanellope was about to protest their public displays of affection until something else caught her attention.

“Um, is it just me, or did it get darker?”

Ralph, Felix and Calhoun looked up to the sky to where the sun had been just a few moments ago. And just as Vanellope had pointed out, the sky had gotten darker. The square sun hovering over them was now dangling over the horizon, sending a light blue curtain over them.

“But, but how is that even possible?” Ralph scratched his head in confusion. “Didn’t we, I don’t know, just get here? It’s barely been an hour!” 

Calhoun set down Felix. “Well, this is a different environment than we’re used to partner,” Felix pointed out. “Time must move differently here.” 

“He’s right,” Calhoun pointed out. “We don’t know the first thing about this place. And I’m not about to get blown up by some walking green matchstick. Let’s get moving.”

By the time she finished, the sun had already disappeared below the horizon line and the sky above them dissolved into a pitch black dome with tiny white squares dotting it all over. They each noticed a slightly brighter light coming from the other side of the map. They turned and saw a white square slowly rising into the sky to replace the sun. 

“Wow,” Vanellope said. “This game just gets more and more unbelievable, don’t it?”

Calhoun huffed. “Yeah, yeah it’s stunning. Now get off your seats and let’s go. Fix-It, you’re with me. Pipsqueak, Wreck-It, turn on your headlights and follow us.” 

Vanellope gulped. “Uh, yeah, about that?”

Calhoun turned to the child. “What is it?” 

Vanellope twiddled with her fingers. “Well . . . About the headlights . . .” 

Felix took out his trusty golden hammer. “Were they damaged in that explosion? Don’t worry. I can fix it!” 

“No, it’s not that. It’s just . . .” 

Ralph walked up behind her. “Come on kid! Spit it out! What is it?”

Vanellope faced her friend. “My headlights don’t work,” she admitted.

Everyone’s eyes bugged. “They don’t what?” Ralph asked with an eyebrow raised. “They don’t work,” she repeated. 

“Wha-what do you mean they don’t work?” Vanellope narrowed her eyes at the wrecker. “What are you hard of hearing? ‘They don’t work’ means that they don’t work!”

Ralph looked to the kart then back to Vanellope. “Then what are those two things on the front?” She looked over to where he gestured. 

“Those are just gumdrops. They’re just there for decoration. What’s the big deal anyways?”

“Well who builds a car with headlights that don’t work?! What’s the point?” 

“Why would I need functional headlights in a game that has an unlimited supply of sunlight?” 

“Both of you shut it! Sweet sons of, you two can bicker about anything, can’t you?” They stopped and directed their attention to the infuriated sergeant. “The more you two argue, the longer we’re here for. So settle your petty squabble and get moving. Now!”

The two of them stood frozen in place, staring at the sergeant. Vanellope looked to her kart, then back to Ralph and sighed. “Well, there is still some light from that blocky piece of Swiss cheese up there,” she said, gesturing up to the square moon in the sky. “I suppose it wouldn’t be so bad to drive,” before she could finish, Felix cleared his throat.

“Actually, it’s probably best all of us just walked.”

“What?!” The remaining three looked to the repairman in shock. 

“Now Vanellope, I am in no way questioning your driving ability, but as we stated earlier, no one here knows anything about this place. I simply couldn’t bear it if you accidentally hurt yourself driving in the dark in some foreign environment.”

Vanellope was ready to protest, but Ralph put his hand lightly on her head to silence her. “He’s right kid. It’s too risky.”

Felix nodded at Ralph. “Thank you Ralph. And Tammy,” he turned and faced his wife, “we should probably stay on the ground with the two of them as to not leave them behind.” Calhoun blew her bangs from her eyes and grunted. 

“Fine.” Her cruiser shrank beneath her feet (which she had already undone while Felix was talking), and she slung it over her shoulder. He nodded. “Thanks dear.” She stared down at him. “You’re lucky you’re cute, Fix-It.” His cheeks glowed bright red and he turned back to Ralph and Vanellope.

“Now, let’s get a move on, shall we?”

“Um,” Ralph and Vanellope twisted their heads left and right. “Where?”

Felix shrugged. “Anywhere. We just need to find something that will help us get out of here.”

“Oh yeah,” Vanellope rolled her eyes. “That’s going to be easy.”

Felix knelt in front of her. “No one said it was going to be easy, Vanellope. But you know what?” She looked up at him questioningly. “Everything that is worth doing is rarely ever easy. You’ve just gotta-”

His heartwarming speech was interrupted by what sounded like someone gurgling an entire bottle of mouthwash. 

HRRRGGMMGHRRRRGGGMMM 

Everyone’s eyes widened and they turned to Calhoun, who only held her hands up defensively and shook her head. “Don’t look at me.”

It came again.

HRRRRRGGGMMMHRRRRRGGGMMM

Calhoun immediately whipped out her repeater rifle and aimed it at a nearby tree. The sound came again from the other side. She rolled and landed on one knee, pointing the gun at another tree. She turned her head left and right, looking for whatever made that noise.

“What is that?” Felix stepped backwards to Ralph. 

Calhoun looked over her shoulder to the three of them. “We’ve gotta move. Now.”

Vanellope’s eyes widened. “Wha-what? What is it?” 

Calhoun lowered her rifle and jogged back to Felix. “No idea. But enough with the senseless chatter and move! Now!” 

Ralph wasted no time. He leaned down, scooped Felix and Vanellope into the crook of his arm and tucked them close to his body. He then trotted over to Vanellope’s kart and hoisted it onto his shoulder. He turned to Calhoun who was waving her hand rapidly and gesturing him to follow. 

“Come on! Let’s go let’s go let’s go!” She barked harshly. Felix wrapped one protective arm around Vanellope while holding his hat on his head as Ralph took off in a sprint, following Calhoun.

She had her rifle out and at the ready, pointing it this way and that as she ran past tree after tree, that strange gargling noise emanating from every direction. She glanced back to see Ralph clutching her husband and Vanellope under his arm and carrying the kart in the other. She let out a startled cry as she brought her foot down to take another step forward but no ground came to meet her. 

She fell about a foot before regaining her lost footing and continued her jog. She glanced back at Ralph. “Look out! There’s a step!” He looked at her with an eyebrow raised as he neared the random shift in elevation. He too let out a quick yelp as he fell a quick foot down, causing his grip on the kart to loosen. He fumbled with it with his single hand for a few moments before grasping it successfully and tucking it under his arm.

“Careful with the precious cargo, pal!” Vanellope shouted at him. He didn’t respond, he just kept following Calhoun. 

The sergeant stopped dead in her tracks and held up her hand, gesturing Ralph to stop. He saw her signal and came to a wobbly stop, his upper body teetering forward as his mass added with his two friends and a full-sized go kart carried him forward. He took one more step forward and regained his balance.

Once he had his footing back, Ralph looked left and right, letting his surroundings sink in. They were in the middle of a circular clearing surrounded by trees. 

Calhoun aimed her rifle forward once again and lowered her body into a proper fighting stance. She whistled over to Ralph. He turned and saw her gesturing him over to her side with her head. He nodded and looked down to his friends with wide eyes. “Um, er, um, let’s see . . .” He rolled the kart back onto the ground before lowering Vanellope and Felix into the driver’s seat. 

He held up his hand and said, “Stay with Felix.” Vanellope made an attempt to crawl out but was apprehended by Felix who grabbed her by the waist and pulled her securely to his lap. She wiggled and squirmed as Ralph jogged next to Calhoun. 

“Hey! No fair! I wanna help!” 

Felix cupped his hand over her mouth to muffle her screams. “Sorry Vanellope. It’s too dangerous.”

Ralph approached Calhoun breathlessly. “Sarge. What do you need?” 

She shot him a quick glance. “Cover my back, Wreck-It. I’ll need some back up.” 

He darted his head back and forth. “What is it we’re fighting, exactly?” She looked at him in irritation and annoyance. “I have no idea,” she snapped. “Just keep me covered, shut your chew hole and look alive!” 

“Uh, uh, yeah! Right! Ok. Ok. Got it. Gotcha.” He turned his back to her and raised his fists. The two of them paced in a slow circle, their feet crisscrossing over each other like an intricate dance with their backs to each other. 

Crunch

Ralph stopped pacing and raised his fists higher as Calhoun zipped around and began rapidly firing into a patch of trees. Ralph jumped in surprise and fell backwards on his rump as he watched the unhinged sergeant unload into the trees much like she had to him earlier that same day. Streams and bolts of light passed over his face as tiny explosions erupted as they made contact with either tree trunks or grass. 

She released her finger from the trigger and the never-ending line of bullets ended, smoke rising from the barrel of her gun. He scoffed and rose to his feet. “Geez Sarge. Give a guy a warning next time!” 

She looked over in his direction. “Hm? Oh. Sorry.” 

He rolled his eyes and looked over at the wave of destruction that she had just caused. “Well, whatever it was, I’m sure it’s-”

HRRRGGMMMMHRRRRGGMMMMM

Calhoun raised her rifle but didn’t fire as Ralph raised his fists close to his face. 

Then they saw it.

At first it only appeared as a quick, black shimmer in the black of night. Ralph could barely make out the shape of the figure. It had a square head, much like that green thing he and Vanellope encountered, but it had a broader side to it under the neck which were clearly shoulders. He could also see two arms swinging at its sides.

Ralph could see the legs swinging as well, gliding along the ground rather than making actual contact with the ground.

It stopped.

Ralph’s heart stopped for a single moment as this new creature began approaching them. The figure becoming slightly bigger as it inched its way to their position. Its body emerged from the shadows and into the pale moonlight, finally revealing itself.

The first thing Ralph and Calhoun noticed about it was its color. Same as the stick creature that exploded in the forest, it had a sickly, grainy green color to it. It had a strange teal shirt and dark blue pants over its rectangular limbs. It had small, black dots which made up the eyes with more black spots that composed the mouth. The arms were raised upward and it continued to walk straight for them.

“What the bits is that thing?” Calhoun readied her rifle and pointed it straight at the strange being before pulling the trigger, unloading a few rounds that hit it straight in the chest. 

The creature was pushed off of its feet and landed on its side, letting out the same gurgling noise it had made before. Then, a strange cloud of pixelated smoke engulfed its body. The weird layered puffs of smoke lingered for a few moments before subsiding, revealing nothing under it. The creature had just disappeared.

Calhoun lowered her rifle with an eyebrow raised. “What in Davey Crocket’s coon tail just happened?” 

Ralph only shrugged. “I dunno what to tell you.” He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, I just-”

HRRRGGMMMHRRRRRGGGMMMM

Ralph was cut off mid-sentence by the same sound. He raised his fists and Calhoun raised her rifle back to the forest where two more creatures, both of them exactly looking like the one that had just disintegrated right before their eyes.

“More of them? You’ve got to be fragging kidding me!” 

Ralph placed his hand on the barrel of her gun and lowered it. He received a questioning glance from her. “I got this one.” 

He bolted past her and ran at the two creatures with his fists raised, screaming at the top of his lungs. “HHHYYYYYYYEEEEAAAHHH!” 

He jumped off of the ground and slammed both fists onto one single creature. He smirked as it instantly disappeared in another cloud of dust right under his hands. He stood back up, pivoted on his bottom foot to turn and face the last of them. He connected his fist with the thing’s chest violently, sending it flying backwards and landing on the ground before the cloud came and it disappeared. 

Ralph smiled and wiped his hands together. A look of pride plastered on his face as he turned to face Calhoun once again . . . who had her rifle pointed right at him.

“Ralph! Duck!”

He stared at her in confusion before diving out of the way the exact moment Calhoun delivered another unceremonious stream of bullets in his direction. He turned and saw three more creatures dropping instantaneously to the ground. He turned onto his belly and began pushing himself to his feet. He stopped once he saw at least half a dozen more of those things approaching them.

He huffed. “Sweet Mother Hubbard! How many of these things are there?” He rose to his feet and charged straight for them.

At the kart, Felix was having a difficult time restraining Vanellope, who was still thrashing and squirming under his grip. “Vanellope! Hold still! We can’t do anything to-”

Bing bing

Bing bing 

Both of them stopped arguing as a familiar sound came from Felix’s tool belt. He let go of the child (now too exhausted and intrigued to go help her friend) and reached for the scroll, which was blinking. “What in the name of,” Felix muttered under his breath. He opened the touch-screened paper to reveal a completely new page.

He read.

“Looks like you’ve gone off and disturbed this peaceful night.” Felix narrowed his eyes and the paper. “Oh darn thing! Does it always have to be such a smart Alec?” His eyes widened and he put his hand over his mouth. “Please forgive my potty mouth Vanellope.” 

She stared up at the super intendant then back to Calhoun and Ralph, who were doing their best to keep a horde of these weird looking guys at bay. “No time to be polite, Sunshine! Keep reading!”

Felix turned back to the paper.

“Hopefully, this guide will prove useful as you fight off these vicious creatures of the night.” 

Vanellope’s ears visibly perked up. “Guide? There’s a guide! Read it! Maybe it’ll help!” Her tiny, shrill, high pitched voice was almost drowned out by the sound of Calhoun yelling and shooting aimlessly while taking out almost every one of the creatures.

Felix swiped his finger across the screen and it scrolled downward, revealing another page with tiny, blocky creatures, each with a little description next to them. Vanellope crawled onto his lap to take a look. Her large eyes widened and she let out a small gasp as she came across the familiar green stick figure from before.

“That’s it!” She screamed, pointing at the paper. “That’s the thing that we saw!” Felix adjusted the paper so he could read it clearly.

“It says here that it’s called a, uh, a Creeper.” 

Vanellope shuddered at the mere thought of that thing. “’Creeper’ isn’t a good enough word to describe how scary that thing is. Keep reading.” Felix nodded and read the Creeper’s description.

“This guy (much like the other bad guys in this world) prefers the night and will explode if startled. Keep your distance and use any long ranged weapon you have against it. It’s your best bet.” Vanellope scoffed at it. “Well that’s all fine and dandy. Now let’s see if it says anything about these butt munches,” she said with a thumb pointed at the creatures attacking their friends (and wife). Felix nodded and scrolled down, mumbling to himself as he skimmed through the info.

“Uh, uh, here!” He stopped the screen from scrolling as an image of the creature in question popped up.

“Zombies,” he read. “Now I’m sure this guy needs no introduction. These undead creatures will stop at nothing to make you their next meal or seal your imminent doom.” He backed up from the paper with wide, frightened eyes.

“Well that’s lovely,” Vanellope quipped. 

Felix continued. “They prefer the night and are relatively easy to take down in hand-to-hand combat.” As if on cue, the sound of Calhoun howling and grunting as she fended off a wall of zombies with her rifle. 

Vanellope stood up in the seat and pointed to Ralph and Calhoun. “Felix, c’mon! We’ve gotta help them!” 

Felix lowered the paper and looked to Vanellope. “Darling, it’s much too dangerous to-”

Shoom

Tink

“Whoa!” Felix let out a quick cry of surprise as a long, thin object soared through the air and hit the side of the kart, digging itself into the cookie frame.

Felix peered over the side to get a look at what the thing was. It didn’t take long for him to realize what it was.

An arrow has stuck itself into the side of Vanellope’s kart. 

The shaft was shorter than most arrows, about the length of his forearm. At the end of the pixelated wood was a pair of blue, blocky feathers. “What in the world?” He reached forward to unstick it from the side of her kart.

Whoosh

Another arrow shot over Felix’s head in the blink of an eye. His eyes widened as he found where exactly it had come from.

Emerging from the shadows, three, white, blocky figures holding small bows in their hands revealed themselves. Vanellope peeked over the edge of the kart to get a look at the new monsters. Neither of them needed the guide to figure out what these guys were.

“Skeletons!” Vanellope shrieked with her finger pointing in their direction. “Skeletons with bows and arrows!” 

Felix pushed Vanellope downward as they each sent a volley of arrows in their direction. “Yipe!” Felix held onto his hat and ducked, now scrunched on the floor with a terrified looking Vanellope. Felix reached a cautious hand over the side of the cart, grasped the arrow that was stuck, and pulled it out. He dropped it to the ground, took out his hammer, reached out over the side and tapped the damaged area. It was repaired instantly with its high tone and bright light before reeling his arm back in.

Calhoun and Ralph, still firing and punching at just about everything that moved, stopped when they heard the sound of a high pitched squeal coming from Vanellope’s kart.

Ralph froze in place for a split second and turned to see three new creatures approaching the kart. 

“Kid!”

“Felix!”

With a swing of his hand, Ralph swatted away three zombies before gripping one in his palm and chucking it in their direction. Calhoun in return took aim and pulled the trigger, instantly destroying two skeletons while the flying zombie collided with the remaining skeleton, both of them disintegrating instantly.

Ralph let his arms fall limply to his sides as he breathed in deeply while Calhoun lowered her gun and panted. Both pairs of eyes were aimed at the kart, silently praying that they were unharmed. 

After what felt like an eternity, two tiny figures rose from the seat with large, frightened eyes. Ralph and Calhoun let out long breaths of relief to see their friends (and husband) still breathing. Before Ralph could say anything, Vanellope raised one shaky arm and pointed behind them, her eyes about ready to pop out of her head.

“C-C-C-Creeper!” 

“Wha?” Ralph raised an eyebrow and turned around.

The sight made his heart plummet. 

Approaching them was a familiar tall, green creature. Its four stubby legs gliding along the ground. 

Calhoun snorted. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” She slung her rifle over her shoulder and began pacing toward the monster. 

Ralph raised his hand. “Wait! Calhoun! No!” 

She didn’t pay his warning any attention. The moment she was within range of the Creeper, she raised her right foot and slammed it straight into the chest (or neck?) of it, shooting its feet from under it and falling on its back. She smirked and wiped her hands. Her smile faded as the monster began to blink red.

Hiss

“Huh?”

Ralph reacted instinctively. He lunged forward, wrapped his hands around her and pulled her tight into his body protectively. He turned his back to the downed Creeper and began running.

He was too late.

BOOOOOOM

Felix and Vanellope ducked under the kart once again as Ralph was completely blown off of his feet and was propelled forward. He never lost his grip on the sergeant as the two of them flew seven feet forward, skidding to a halt just in front of the kart.

Once he felt the coast was clear, Felix peeked over the windshield and saw the crater that was left by the explosion. His eyes quickly fell to the smoking bodies of Ralph and his wife lying side by side.

“Tammy! Ralph!” He skipped out of the kart and landed on the hood, then hopped one last time onto his antagonist’s belly, inspecting the damage. Ralph’s arms were blackened slightly and his face was bruised. Felix winced as he took out his hammer and tapped his friend.

Bing!

Ralph’s injuries instantly vanished and he sat up straight in a start, sending Felix sprawling to the ground. Ralph patted his body to make sure he was unhurt, then let out a quick laugh as he discovered he was alright. 

Felix scrambled to his feet and dashed over to his wife. He turned her so she was laying on her back. Her eyes were closed and her face was bruised much like Ralph’s. Black marks and scratches were visible on her full body armor. Ralph leaned down to her side to make sure she was alright as well. Felix tapped her armor.

Bing!

In an instant, she bolted upright with a loud, startling gasp for breath. She sat up so fast, she unintentionally head-butted Ralph.

“Ouch! Oho man! Geez!”

Calhoun gripped her side tenderly as she coughed violently as Ralph fell on his back, grasping his tender spot on his face and winced in pain.

Once she was done coughing, Felix jumped and wrapped his arms around his wife, pulling her close. She was shocked at first, then gave into the hug. “You gave me an awful scare there, dear.” Felix patted her head and rubbed her hair gently in his palm. 

She sighed and rested her chin on his shoulder. “Sorry Fix-It.”

Ralph rose slowly into a sitting position, looking at the un-proportional couple, still holding his head. “I’m fine too by the way. You know, in case anyone was, whoa!” His sarcastic quip was cut short as a flurry of blue pixels formed in front of him. They rematerialized into Vanellope as she pushed Ralph back to the ground, her tiny arms outstretched across his chest.

“Don’t ever do that to me again, Stinkbrain! You almost gave me a heart attack!” Ralph could only smile as he wrapped his arm around the child. 

The four of them said nothing for the next few minutes. They just sat with each other, rocking slowly from side to side in the pale moon light, one being thankful that the other was unharmed. 

Vanellope lightly gasped. “Hey guys, look.” She pointed over Ralph’s shoulder. The rest of them turned to see what it was she was instructing them to look at. 

On the other side of the map, a warm, red blanket was filling the sky. Below it, the square sun was peeking over the horizon, rising slowly into the sky. Calhoun let out an impressed whistle. “Jeepers,” Felix said. “That was awfully fast.”

The four of them said nothing as the square sun successfully emerged, light now spilling in from every direction.

“Uh, guys?” The group turned to Vanellope who was sitting in the palm of Ralph’s hand. “Can we take a break now?” They let out little chuckles and looked back to the child.

“Sure, kid.” She beamed up at her friend.

“Alright you wusses,” Calhoun suddenly barked, “take five, then we’re back on the road.”


End file.
